Lewis County Sirens.com

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – Twenty-seven-year-old Chase N. Ettner yesterday was ordered held on $100,000 bail, accused of intentionally setting fire to his own apartment in downtown Chehalis on Sunday night.

Lawyers say the maintenance man at the building on the 100 block of North Market Boulevard told his wife not long ago, if she ever left him he would burn the place down. Chase and Holly Ettner got into an argument earlier that evening, according to charging documents.

Chehalis police say Ettner apparently was trying to kill himself or possibly even burn up his wife.

The damage was minimal, but residents from five apartments in the 21-unit brick building had to find somewhere else to stay temporarily, according to the Chehalis Fire Department.

Responders found Ettner surrounded by an unruly crowd behind the building, laying on the ground seemingly extremely intoxicated and smelling of gasoline.

“Alcohol appears to be a major problem,” Lewis County Deputy Prosecutor Will Halstead told the court yesterday afternoon.

The defendant appeared “hell bent” on harming himself or others, Halstead said.

Defense attorney Bob Schroeter said it might have been a relapse.

“He has been in treatment for a couple of months,” Schroeter said.

“Because of the intoxication, claims of what he said need to be taken with a large grain of salt,” he added.

Firefighters called just after 9 p.m. found smoke coming from the building, some residents evacuating and at least one person trying to douse the fire, according to responders.

A gas can was found in the Ettner’s first floor apartment; the oven and stove were turned on, police said.

Neither charging documents or police say how Ettner ended up outside or if he was alone in the apartment when the fire started.

Ettner was charged yesterday with one count of first-degree arson, domestic violence. The maximum penalty is life in prison

He told police, according to charging documents, he just wanted to kill himself and he made sure everybody was out before he “torched the place.”

The only injury reported by the fire department was his 32-year-old wife had cuts on her hands from retrieving a fire extinguisher. The fire damage was limited to the couple’s carpet and a wall, the fire department said.

With an income of only approximately $200 a month, Ettner was given a court-appointed attorney. He is scheduled to make his plea on Thursday afternoon in Lewis County Superior Court.

Updated

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CENTRALIA – Members of the police department joined firefighters in north Centralia this afternoon to begin investigating after a vacant house went up in flames.

Riverside Fire Authority was called around 4:15 to the corner of Logan and Vienna streets for reports of a fully involved structure fire, according to Fire Chief Jim Walkowski.

“It’s reportedly abandoned, it’s had drug activity in the past,” Walkowski said.

At 5:30 p.m. crews were still putting water on the one and a half-story wood-frame home.

Walkowski said they were trying to confirm there was nobody inside. They had various reports, including of someone walking away, he said.

Several neighborhood residents, including young people watched from across the street at the playground of the old Logan School.

Eleven-year-old Ashley Taylor said she, her sister and a friend were at home next door when they smelled smoke.

“And next, the whole front was puking fire,” Ashley said.

Robin Taylor, 15, said they heard “bursting” and glass breaking.

“It was the biggest fire I’ve ever seen,” she said.

The girls said a family with several children used to live there, and sometimes the grown ups come back.

Walkowski said two firefighters were treated at the scene for heat exhaustion. Riverside was joined by departments from Chehalis, rural Chehalis and the Rochester area.

The front of the house was charred. The blaze extended to a detached garage in back, according to Walkowski.

An adjacent home sustained minor radiant heat damage, according to the chief.

Update: Investigators determined there was nobody inside the structure. Walkowski said the residents had moved out about two months ago.
•••

CORRECTION: This story has been updated to reflect the two firefighters suffered heat exhaustion, not smoke exhaustion.

•••

•••

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

A Mossyrock couple lost their home to fire yesterday, but nobody was hurt and all their pets turned up safe.

Lewis County Fire District 3 was called about 12:30 p.m. to the two-story home on the 200 block of Schoonover Road southeast of town.

The man and woman who live their were working in their shop and when they came outside they saw smoke, he said.

“I don’t know what caused it, it looks like it may have started in the utility room,” Chief Fosburg said.

The wood-frame house was fully involved in flames when the first engine arrived, Fosburg said. The upstairs collapsed onto the first floor, he said.

A dozen members of District 3 were joined by firefighters from neighboring Salkum and Morton.

“It was stubborn, it took us about 40 to 45 minutes to get it under control,” he said.

Fosburg described the house and its contents as a total loss.

Crews were on the scene until 6 p.m. putting out hot spots and doing cleanup, he said.

“They thought they might have lost a cat, but after we left, both cats and their dog were accounted,” he said.

A fire investigator is looking into the cause.

The couple has relatives they stayed with last night, according to the chief.

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

A 46-year-old Cinebar woman had to be hoisted by helicopter cable from the banks of the Tilton River yesterday after a river rafting accident the day before left her stranded with a dislocated shoulder.

The woman, her husband and their 14-year-old son had capsized at a water fall on Saturday evening, were tossed into the water and ended up spending the night on the rocky shore, according to the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office.

She was injured when she struck a rock, according to the sheriff’s office.

The father and son hiked up steep terrain to the Bear Canyon Tree Farm west of Morton where they called 911 just before 7 o’clock yesterday morning, Lewis County Fire DIstrict 8 Chief Duran McDaniel said.

It took until 9:30 a.m. for fire department personnel to locate her, he said.

“It’s a rather steep bank, wooded and 750-feet down the river,” McDaniel said.

About 20 responders assembled yesterday morning as they contemplated whether to use a boat to get her out or the high-angle rescue specialists from Packwood Search and Rescue, according to the chief.

They decided it was not an option to float her out because of rapids and bringing her up the back would have taken too long, he said.

The sheriff’s office search and rescue coordinator requested air support and a helicopter from the U.S. Coast Guard in Astoria, Ore. responded.

“That was about 3 p.m.,” McDaniel said. “The helicopter arrived, basketed the patient. In nine minutes they were in and out.”

The woman was taken to the Salkum Fire Hall on U.S. Highway 12 where awaiting medics gave her something for pain and transported her to Providence Centralia Hospital.

The sheriff’s office said the family was traveling in a two-man raft with the woman in an inner tube attached behind the raft. They had launched about 4 p.m. Saturday from the Bremer Bridge at state Route 508.

None had been wearing life jackets, the sheriff’s office noted.

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – A 27-year-old Chehalis man is jailed after he allegedly used gasoline to set fire to his apartment last night attempting to kill himself or possibly trying to burn up his wife, according to police.

The fire was small but the building on the 100 block of North Market Boulevard was evacuated and six people who live there had to find other places to stay last night, according to the Chehalis Fire Department.

Fire and police were called about 9:10 p.m. found smoke coming from the brick building and the suspect laying face down by the dumpster behind it, according to police.

Responders were told he wanted to kill himself, appeared extremely intoxicated and smelled of gasoline, Chehalis Police Department Deputy Chief Randy Kaut said.

A gas can was found in his first floor apartment; the oven and stove were turned on, Kaut said.

It’s not clear how he got outside, according to Kaut. Police were told there had been an argument at the apartment earlier, according to Kaut.

“He was trying to harm himself, or possibly burn up the woman who lives there,” Kaut said.

Fire Capt. Kevin Curfman said residents were working on extinguishing the flames when the fire department arrived.

The only person injured was the man’s 32-year-old wife who had cuts on her hands from retrieving a fire extinguisher, according to Curfman.

The fire damage was limited to a wall and carpeting in the couple’s living room, Curfman said.

Chase N. Ettner, 27, was taken to Providence Centralia Hospital to be checked out and then booked into the Lewis County Jail for arson, according to police.

“We’re very lucky it wasn’t worse than what it was,” Kaut said.

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – Timothy Tyrell Daily isn’t a fighter.

The closest the married father of two has ever come, he says, is watching ultimate fighting competitions on television.

Yet the other day, while taking his brother-in-law for a spin in his newly purchased Honda Civic, the 25-year-old Napavine man soon found himself wrestling on the side of Interstate 5 in Chehalis after witnessing a man – allegedly – attack a lone state trooper.

“It was just kind of a natural reaction for us,” Daily said. “It was a hairy situation.”

Daily and his brother-in-law Jared Kasinger assisted Trooper Robert Moore in trying to restrain a kicking and punching subject, who was finally cuffed by Moore after an off-duty Centralia police detective joined in the fray.

It happened about 6:30 p.m. the Tuesday before last.

The suspect, Don K. Gonzales, 23, of Centralia, is charged with second-degree assault and other offenses, including attempting to disarm a law enforcement officer.

Gonzales is in the Lewis County Jail on a no-bail hold.

Moore, whose nose and glasses were broken when a semi truck lug bolt was thrown at his face, was appreciative of the two civilians.

According to charging documents, Trooper Moore encountered the man walking along the shoulder of the southbound off ramp at Main Street.

He had told Gonzales to drop two sticks he was carrying and a pocket knife he was “clicking”. When he drew his Taser, Gonzales reportedly replied “Don’t tase me” and dropped the knife.

Then Moore did fire his Taser as Gonzales wound up and threw the lug nut.

Daily said he saw Gonzales take three or four swings at the trooper before the trooper was able to get him in a bear hug.

Then the fight was on.

“When they jumped in, I know their heart was in the right spot,” Trooper Moore said. “And I appreciate that.”

The trooper, who came to court when Gonzales was charged, said he wouldn’t talk further about the incident, wanting to avoid messing up the case in any way.

His left eye was blackened and the injuries to his nose were described as a displaced fracture of the nasal spine and fracture to the left nasal bone.

Kasinger, 24, from Chehalis, ended up with a twisted wrist, according to charging documents. Daily was left with “busted knuckles, not actually broken though, he said, from trying to punch the man into submission.

Daily is an auto body man at Hassler’s in Chehalis where he fixes up cars.

That day, after he picked up his new wheels in Centralia, he stopped by the fireworks stand at Wal-Mart to show his brother-in-law.

They were headed south on Interstate 5 and began slowing when they spotted the trooper pointing a weapon, just in case, he said.

“Obviously it’s a situation,” Daily said. “It’s not good if he has a Taser out, though I didn’t know it was a Taser.”

Daily said he started to pull over and his brother-in-law – who has previous experience working as a corrections officer in California – bailed out before the car stopped.

“I just followed him,” he said “He’s my brother-in-law.”

It was plain as day the trooper was in trouble, he said.

He said he saw the object bounce of the trooper’s face.

“He stumbled back, said some curse words, it knocked him pretty good,” Daily said.

Moore, Kasinger and the man were on the ground, when Daily jumped onto the man’s lower half, he said, “I wrapped my arms around his legs and my legs around his legs.”

The tussle lasted maybe three or four minutes, but it felt like much longer, he said.

The trooper was yelling at him to stop, be still, he said.

“It was a struggle, it was a fight,” he said. “I promise you, I tried with all my might to hurt him.”

He said the trooper gave them instructions, and finally said to just keep holding him down until backup arrived.

Charging documents say Centralia police detective Rick Hughes arrived; Daily remembers two plain clothed officers helping while the suspect was finally cuffed.

Daily, when recounting the brawl, repeatedly said while the trooper appeared in trouble, he also was surely very capable of handling the situation.

“But it wouldn’t have ended pretty, he said.

“I will say, anyone who can take a three-inch lug nut to the face, and still have the consciousness to help us get this guy to the ground, he’s a bad ass.”

Because it happened in Chehalis, the Chehalis Police Department handled the case against Gonzales.

Chehalis Deputy Chief Randy Kaut had no qualms about the two civilians intervening.

“In this case, we had an officer with serious injuries and it sounds like he was struggling,” Kaut said. “To me, they should be commended.”

Kaut said he couldn’t recall in his career ever having a non-police officer jump in and help, but said in the Twin Cities, there’s almost always backup, even on traffic stops.

“It’s just an unspoken rule,” Kaut said, because you never know who you’re going to pull over.

Troopers and sheriff’s deputies are more likely to find themselves alone during such an encounter because of the wide ranging areas they cover, he said.

Lewis County Sheriff’s Office spokesperson Stacy Brown said it probably happens more often than we hear about.

“In my 16 years I’ve been here, I’ve heard stories from deputies by themselves out in Randle or Packwood, when log truck drivers have pulled over to help,” Brown said.

Different officers may have differing takes on how they’d view civilians getting involved in an arrest, she said.

“I can tell you what my opinion is, when there’s a fight, and you’re getting hurt, any help is welcome,” Brown said. “That might not be the consensus.”

Washington State Patrol Sgt. Freddy Williams is a supervisor at the state patrol academy in Shelton. He’s taught defensive tactics there.

Williams offered some things for would-be good samaritans to consider.

“When I’m on the ground, I don’t know if they’re there to help me or the bad guy,” Williams said.

His advice: The first words out of the civilian’s mouth need to be, “Officer, do you need help?”

A caution: “If a civilian comes up with a weapon in their hand, you can just imagine what goes through my mind.”

“On a personal note, if I’m out there and I’m getting my clock cleaned,” Williams said. “I’m going to welcome it, and I’m going to say thank you.”

Gonzales was charged second-degree assault, a crime with a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison.

He was also charged with three counts of third-degree assault, one regarding detective Hughes as he allegedly kicked Hughes in the chest, plus one each for Daily and Kasinger.

The Chehalis Fire Department said Gonzales was checked by medics for “scrapes and what not” but not transported to the hospital.

Information in his court file lists him as 5-feet 7-inches tall and weighing 157 pounds.

When Gonzales appeared in Lewis County Superior Court on July 5, he told the judge he didn’t know who he was, according to temporary defense attorney Bob Schroeter.

His arraignment was supposed to be Thursday, but he was not brought to court by jail staff.

As Lewis County Prosecutor Jonathan Meyer put it to the judge: “It’s my understanding he preferred not to attend.”

Court appointed defense attorney Ken Johnson said he hadn’t had a chance to meet with his new client.

Johnson said he went to the jail to see him, but Gonzales was being kept in solitary.

“They said I could go back and see him in the hole, but that would not be productive,” Johnson said. “I guess he’s responding to internal stimuli. Voices in his head.”