Updated at 12:03 p.m.
DOMESTIC SITUATION
• A 20-year-old Centralia man was jailed overnight for allegedly holding his girlfriend inside an apartment against her will during a dispute. Officers responding about 12:20 a.m. today to the 200 block of West Cherry Street arrested Christian T. Drakos for unlawful imprisonment, according to the Centralia Police Department. Further details were not readily available.
BICYCLIST FLEES POLICE
• A 25-year-old Centralia man who allegedly fled after an officer attempted to stop him on his bicycle was arrested about 9 p.m. yesterday in the area of West Van Buren Street in Centralia. Police report Spencer R. Barney was wanted for a warrant and that he was arrested for obstructing and resisting arrest, however the Lewis County Jail roster shows he was booked for attempting to elude.
PROWLING IN A DRIVEWAY
• The Lewis County Sheriff’s Office reported this morning that someone cut the fuel line to a pickup truck parked in its driveway on the 3000 block of Jackson Highway and stole about five gallons of gasoline. It happened sometime between midnight on June 29 and Monday morning, according to the sheriff’s office. The repair is estimated at $114, Cmdr. Steve Aust said.
OTHER THEFT
• Chehalis police took a report of identity theft in connection with a location on Bishop Road. Further details were not readily available.
MISSING CASH
• Chehalis police were called by a customer from Wal-Mart on Wednesday night who said he lost $900 while at the store at about 9:30 p.m. Further details were not readily available.
FIRE DEPARTMENT ACTION
• Firefighters were called just before 7 p.m. yesterday to a fire in tall grass in the area of Meier Road near U.S. Highway 12. Lewis County Fire District 5 Firefighter Brad Bozarth said he wasn’t sure what started it, but there were both fireworks and ATVs in the area. He estimated the size at 80 feet by 80 feet.
• At about 8:30 p.m. yesterday, crews responded to a grass fire in a ditch in area of Tennessee and Nelson roads in Winlock. It grew to about 30-feet by 10-feet before it was extinguished, according to Lewis County Fire District 15. Firefighter Patrick Jacobson said he wasn’t sure what caused it.
• The Rochester-Littlerock area fire department responded to a handful of fire calls related to fireworks overnight but all were extinguished before crews arrived, according to Lt. Eric Smith. Napavine area firefighters reported a teeny grass fire and Centralia reported one in beauty bark.
WRECKS
• One man was taken to the hospital after his motorcycle and a car collided on state Route 507 at the east end of Tenino this morning. It happened about 8:15 a.m. and the patient sustained non-life threatening injuries, according to Thurston County Fire District 12 Acting Lt. Jed Neumeier.
• Mellen Street in Centralia was closed for about an hour yesterday after a vehicle accident that had many of the makings for a tragedy much larger than it turned out to be. A motorist collided with a utility pole which broke and landed on his pickup truck leaving live power lines laying on the ground, according to Riverside Fire Authority. The estimated 3,000 pound transformer from atop the pole fell into the bed of the truck, Capt. Scott Snyder said. “If it would have been one foot the other way, we’d have had a whole different outcome,” Snyder said. Fire crews attempted to back everyone away from the truck until they could confirm whether the power lines were energized. The lines gave no indications they were hot, but it turned out they indeed were, according to Snyder. “There were some bystanders trying to help him out as well, and they could have been brought into the mix of patients,” Snyder said. It happened about 1:30 p.m. on the 1200 block. Snyder said he wasn’t certain what caused the wreck, it may have been a medical issue, but the driver was transported to Providence Centralia Hospital with a possible head injury. “This guy was really lucky,” Snyder said. “I told the guy he should go buy a lottery ticket.”
AND MORE
• And as usual, other incidents such as arrests for warrant, driving with suspended license, misdemeanor domestic assaults, teenager with alcohol; responses for burglar alarms, misdemeanor theft, possible overdose, suspicious circumstances, collision on Harrison Avenue in Centralia; complaints about bottle rockets landing in yard, noise from suspected illegal fireworks … and more.
Tags: By Sharyn L. Decker, news reporter