TEEN LIFE FLIGHTED AFTER RV HITCHING MISHAP
• A 17-year-old boy was airlifted to Harborview Medical in Seattle yesterday after he was crushed between a pickup truck and a fifth-wheel travel trailer in Centralia. Police called about 11:15 p.m. to the 800 block of West Pear Street say the owner was trying to hook the two together when the vehicle rolled back too far and caught the teen. Arriving firefighters found someone else had already moved the truck and the boy had only been pinned briefly, according to Riverside Fire Authority. Centralia police say he was transported to Providence Centralia Hospital to be evaluated for possible injuries. Firefighter-paramedic Jennifer Ternan said he was then flown to the regional trauma center, but she didn’t have any information about his condition. The case remains under investigation, according to the Centralia Police Department.
THEFT, THEFT, THEFT, THEFT …
• A 39-year-old Centralia man was arrested for being in possession of a vehicle stolen out of Port Angeles, which had license tabs on it taken off a different vehicle in Port Angeles and was affixed with a license plate stolen from Centralia. Kelly L. Beckley allegedly left the Ford F-150 pickup truck at Wal-Mart, where he stole a bicycle and pedaled over to K-Mart, where he shoplifted a pair of trousers, according to the Chehalis Police Department. He was greeted by an officer after he had changed into the pants in the restroom there, according to police. An employee from Wal-Mart had called 911 about 2:50 p.m. on Thursday to say Beckley was acting suspicious, when he got on the bicycle and rode away, police said. He was booked into the Lewis County Jail.
• The Lewis County Sheriff’s Office reported yesterday that someone broke into a home on the 3700 block of Russell Road in Centralia. A deputy responding there on Thursday learned that sometime between noon and 3 p.m. entered the residence and left with about $600 worth of valuables, including an HP laptop computer and jewelry, according to the sheriff’s office.
• Centralia police were called about 2 p.m. Thursday about someone stealing a purse from a shopping cart at the 1100 block of Harrison Avenue.
DRUGS
• A 23-year-old from Forest Grove, Ore. was arrested for possession of methamphetamine after contact with an officer on Thursday night at the 600 block of South Tower Avenue in Centralia. Alfredo Mendoza-Martinez, was booked into the Lewis County Jail, according to the Centralia Police Department.
FROM THE COURTHOUSE
• There will be no trial next month for the 2010 drive-by shooting at on Southwest William Street in Chehalis. Prosecutors in April brought their suspect back to Lewis County to face charges, from prison where he is serving more than 100 years for a gang-related shooting incident in Yakima County. Lewis County Deputy Prosecutor Mark McClain asked a judge on Thursday to dismiss the charges, without prejudice, meaning they could be re-filed at a later time. “I think there’s something else going on here we need to investigate in a different way,” McClain told the judge when he made his request. Andrew Morales-Loberg, now 22, will be headed back to prison, with a release date in the year 2165. Prosecutors had issued a material witness warrant for one of the victims in the case, Rolando Carrillo-Cruz, who McClain said is in Mexico. The judge signed an order quashing that warrant on Thursday.
CANDLES ARE CULPRITS IN VADER HOUSE FIRE
• A fire that chased a family from it’s Vader area home on Thursday evening was caused by candles. Members of Cowlitz-Lewis Fire District 2 responding about 7 p.m. to the single-story house on the 100 block of Enchanted Valley Drive found smoke billowing out from all the back windows and a resident using a fire extinguisher from outside to get at the flames, according to Chief Richard Underdahl. His son had been working on a computer and noticed flames coming from an unusual interior room inside the residence, according to Underdahl. The father closed that door, made sure everyone was outside and helped contain the fire until crews arrived. The original property owner had built the house around a vintage Airstream-type travel trailer which couldn’t be seen from outside, but when one opened one of the interior doors, they found themselves inside the trailer, according to Underdahl. It’s a room one of the pre-teen-age children and friends had been burning a couple of candles in earlier and they were forgotten about, Fire Investigator Ted McCarty said. It’s interior was burned, but the home and its other contents were mostly saved, Underdahl said. Nobody was injured and some of the roughly 20 firefighters, which included adjacent districts, were on the scene until about 11 p.m., he said.
WRECKS
• A 31-year-old school bus driver was issued a citation after he backed his bus up into an occupied Saturn station wagon on the 100 block of Moon Road west of Chehalis on Thursday afternoon. A deputy responding after the 3:30 p.m. incident found the damage to both vehicles was minor and none of the teenagers on the bus – from Curtis and the Chehalis area – were injured, the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office reported yesterday.
• A Tacoma man was injured in a rollover accident overnight on Interstate 5 south of Napavine when he collided with the center barrier causing a rear wheel to come off his car. Troopers responding about 12:40 a.m. to the northbound lanes near Koontz Road found the 1994 Buick four-door was totaled and the detached wheel had traveled to the other side of the freeway where it was was struck by a southbound vehicle, according to the Washington State Patrol. Ernest G. Hartwig, 56, was transported to Providence Centralia Hospital, the state patrol reports. He was to be cited for wheels off the roadway.
AND MORE
• And as usual, other incidents such as arrests for warrants, driving with suspended license, shoplifting merchandise such as liquor and groceries, stealing landscaping rocks; responses for alarms, suspicious circumstances, misdemeanor theft, collisions on city streets, graffiti, someone shooting a BB at a car … and more.
A 1994 Buick is prepared for towing after it wrecked on Interstate 5 south of Napavine. / Courtesy photo by Kristal Autumn
Tags: By Sharyn L. Decker, news reporter