Lewis County Sirens.com

The suspect Jeep looks like this one pictured.

By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – Troopers are still hoping to hear from anyone who witnessed a shooting on Interstate 5 last week, or saw the road rage incident and chase that took place in the 13-mile stretch north of Chehalis.

It happened around 11 a.m. on Wednesday and nobody was injured, but at least one shot shattered the rear window of a car.

The suspect is a older man who was driving a black Jeep Cherokee and the victim was driving a silverish-gray four-door Mazda hatchback, according to the Washington State Patrol.

Police have interviewed the Mazda driver, but have not located the Jeep, according to the state patrol.

As of yesterday, there was nobody who reported seeing the shooting, Trooper Will Finn said. They’re hoping an appeal for tips will help them out, and maybe even prompt the shooter to turn himself in, Finn said.

A detective out of Vancouver has been assigned to investigate.

Detective Jen Ortiz said this morning only two calls were made to 911. One was from an individual who saw the Mazda with its back window already broken out, around milepost 83. The other was from the 25-year-old man from Spanaway who was shot at, she said.

Ortiz hadn’t yet heard from any members of the public offering information, she said.

According to the victim, the events began in south Thurston County around milepost 93 or the Scatter Creek Rest Area and continued southbound into Lewis County.

He told police he got “brake checked” by the Jeep and admitted he returned the favor.

The state patrol says the driver of the Jeep pointed a handgun out of the driver’s side window and fired at least one shot.

The two continued at a high rate of speed in and out of traffic until milepost 80 – north of the Chehalis Wal-Mart exit – when the driver of the Mazda lost sight of the Jeep. The 25-year-old  victim got off the freeway at exit 77, which is state Route 6 and Main Street and met up with police.

The Jeep is described as a black, mid 2000s base-model Jeep Cherokee with non-tinted windows and Washington license plates.

Its driver was described as a white male in his 60s to 70s with gray hair and a gray beard.  The Jeep had a passenger described as a white female in her 80s, wearing a red shirt with an oxygen tube in her nose.

Anyone with information regarding the incident, the Jeep, its driver or passenger, is asked to call detective Ortiz at 360-449-7948.
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For background, read “Car shot at, chased down Interstate 5 in Lewis County” from Wednesday December 30, 2015, here

By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – The 29-year-old man who led police on a pursuit from Centralia to Portland over the weekend reportedly told an officer he fled because he had a suspended driver’s license.

Henry Herrera-Montealegre was brought before a judge in Lewis County Superior Court yesterday afternoon, charged with one count of attempting to elude. The offense is a class C felony, with a maximum penalty of five years in prison.

Judge James Lawler ordered the Centralia resident held on $20,000 bail. His arraignment is tomorrow.

Centralia police reported on New Year’s Day that an officer tried to pull over a suspected drunk driver at North Pearl and First streets about 2:20 a.m. but the vehicle sped away.

Charging documents in the case indicate Officer Angie Humphrey first spotted him at the 100 block of East Cherry Street about 1:50 a.m. and followed him up North Tower Avenue where she activated her overhead lights.

The documents state the car pulled to the curb and slowed, but then immediately pulled away, crossing both lanes of traffic and turning westbound on to Second Street.

From there, the car allegedly traveled in excess of 60 mph onto Harrison Avenue and ran a red light to enter southbound Interstate 5.

Law enforcement officers from the Chehalis Police Department, the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office and the Washington State Patrol joined in the chase, with the driver traveling as much as 80 mph and avoiding spike strips once in Lewis County, the documents relate.

Officer Humphrey disengaged and the vehicle was pursued in to Portland where it was stopped.

The affidavit of probable cause offers no information about what occurred in Cowlitz or Clark counties.

Herrera-Montealegre, the sole occupant, was apprehended and booked into the Multnomah County Jail for attempting to elude by vehicle. They released him the same day on his own recognizance.

The following day, local officers located him near his home in Centralia and questioned him before making the arrest on the local charge.

” … (H)e admitted he drove away from Officer Humphrey because he had a suspended license,” Senior Deputy Prosecutor Will Halstead wrote in the court documents.

Centralia police initially indicated Herrera-Montealegre could be facing also a charge of driving without a required interlock device. His license was suspended in the first degree.

Prosecutors say Herrera-Montealegre has convictions for driving under the influence in 2007 and 2004.
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For background, read “Centralia resident arrested after roughly 100-mile police chase” from Friday January 1, 2016, here

By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – Lewis County Fire District 5’s experiment with employing a part-time chief didn’t work out.

A year and a half after stepping into the role at the fire department that protects the greater Napavine area, Chief Gregg Peterson has stepped down.

Chief Gregg Peterson

The change took place last month and district’s board of commissioners is planning now to hire someone full-time to lead the department.

Commissioner Lyle Hojem said part time just isn’t enough time, because the district has so many calls to respond to.

“It was amiable, he knew,” Hojem said yesterday. “It wasn’t something he objected to in any way; we had the highest regard for him.”

Peterson was sworn in last spring, with a contract that  called for him to work up to 32 hours, with an annual salary of $40,000.

The previous chief and his second-in-command had resigned two months earlier. Jamie Guenther, chair of the board of commissioners when Peterson was hired, said at the time that a lot of people didn’t like the high wages paid to former Chief Eric Linn.

Linn was paid $82,000 a year and benefits that totaled more than $19,000.

Lewis County Fire District 5, re-named Newaukum Valley Fire and Rescue, serves a population of about 12,000 over a 66-square-mile area south of Chehalis.

Hojem said  Peterson was actually the one who brought the issue to the attention of the commissioners, recognizing it “some time ago”, and the commissioners agreed.

“We found a part-time chief just didn’t work for Lewis County Fire District 5,” he said.

Peterson, who served the previous six years as the volunteer chief in the Boistfort Valley where he resides, retired in 2011 from a professional firefighter career in South King County.

His retirement plan doesn’t allow him to continue receiving payments if he works more than part-time as a chief, Hojem said, and the board wasn’t going to ask him to give up his retirement money to stay on with them.

Hojem said the board is beginning to get its “ducks in order”, preparing a job description and then advertising for the position.

They hope to bring on a new chief by April, he said.