Posts Tagged ‘By Sharyn L. Decker’

Sirens: Daily police and fire roundup

Thursday, August 10th, 2017
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Updated

AUTO THEFT

•  A teal-colored 1995 Honda Civic was reported stolen from the 400 block of West Magnolia Street in Centralia just after 3 a.m. yesterday morning. The car bears a license plate reading AUS 1430, according to the Centralia Police Department. The missing vehicle has a loud muffler, a black hood and black gas cap and the tail lights are blacked out, according to police.

• An individual called Chehalis police about 9:50 a.m. yesterday to report he found his father’s stolen vehicle at 15th Street and Mills Avenue which nobody knew was missing but had been parked there since Monday. The blue Dodge Dakota pickup had been stolen from out in the county, according to the Chehalis Police Department.

OTHER THEFT

• Police were called to a rehabilitation center at the 1300 block of Alexander Street in Centralia about 12:30 p.m. yesterday where $20 was reported stolen from a resident.

CAR PROWL

• Centralia police were called about 1:50 p.m. yesterday to take a report of a vehicle prowl at the 2400 block of Borst Avenue in which a backpack containing medication and emergency supplies was taken.

• An individual reported just before 7 p.m. yesterday her cell phone was stolen from her vehicle two days earlier, in a case associated with the 1000 block of Seminary Hill Road. The case is under investigation, according to the Centralia Police Department.

• Chehalis police were called just after 8 a.m. yesterday to take a report of an overnight vehicle prowl at the 700 block of Northwest Liberty Place. The report indicated more than $5,000 worth of property including an ODM telecommunications tool and fishing gear were taken between 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday and 7:30 a.m. on Wednesday, according to the Chehalis Police Department.

DRUGS

• Centralia police report they arrested a 40-year-old Tenino man for possession of methamphetamine after a search subsequent to a traffic stop at the 1100 block of Harrison Avenue about noon yesterday. Toby J. Herbert was booked into the Lewis County Jail, according to the Centralia Police Department.

AND THIS HAPPENED

• A person called Chehalis police about noon yesterday to report a female known to him had cut up all his clothes at the 100 block of Northeast Coal Creek Road, according to the Chehalis Police Department.

AND MORE

• And, as usual, other incidents such as arrests for drugs, warrants, trespassing, third-degree theft, minor in possession of alcohol, probation violation, driving with suspended license, driving with no license, misdemeanor domestic assault; responses for alarm, dispute, civil issue, hit and run, vehicle collision, suspicious circumstances, dogs alone in parked vehicle … and more among 159 calls for local law enforcement and / or fire-emergency medical services in the 24-hour period ending about 7 a.m.

News brief: Freight train victim identified

Thursday, August 10th, 2017

By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – The man struck and killed by a freight train in Tenino last Friday was actually 29 years old, not 30 as originally reported by authorities.

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The death of Dylan B. James, 29, of Tacoma, was determined to be an accident, according to the Thurston County Coroner’s Office.

The Thurston County Sheriff’s Office said it happened approximately 5 p.m. on Aug. 4 near the 16800 block of Old Highway 99, about a half mile south of Tenino.

Authorities said the southbound locomotive had been blowing its horn and went into emergency braking but the pedestrian was slow to respond, and was unable to clear the tracks.
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For background, read “News brief: Train hits man on tracks in Tenino” from Saturday August 5, 2017, here

Tenino: One dead, one jailed after two-vehicle crash

Thursday, August 10th, 2017
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McDuff Road is shut down yesterday evening while collision is investigated. / Courtesy photo by Thurston County Sheriff’s Office

Updated at 12:12 p.m.

By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – A 66-year-old man is dead after a two-vehicle crash yesterday along the 15000 block of McDuff Road just north of Tenino and the other driver has been arrested.

The Thurston County Sheriff’s Office reports a pickup truck with an impaired driver behind the wheel was headed northbound and crossed the centerline, striking an oncoming sedan.

The driver of the sedan, a 66-year-old man from Tenino, died as a result of the collision, according to the sheriff’s office. He is identified as Eldon G. McLean, by the Thurston County Coroner’s Office.

Responders called just after 5 p.m. closed the road for the investigation, according to the sheriff’s office. There were no other occupants of the vehicles, according to sheriff’s Sg. Carla Carter.

Following a preliminary investigation, the pickup driver, Keith Milligan, 57, from Tenino, was arrested and booked into the Thurston County Jail for vehicular homicide, according to Carter.

Human remains recovered from Mineral Lake

Thursday, August 10th, 2017

Updated at 4:38 p.m.

By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – Five weeks after a local man was believed to have vanished in Mineral Lake, his body has been found in the lake.

Deputies were called yesterday morning to the north Lewis County community along state Route 7 where they recovered human remains from the water, according to the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office.

Gerald L. Harris, 54, of Mineral went missing on July 5.

As recently as Tuesday, the sheriff’s office reported they continued to conduct interviews with people and were waiting for a break in the case. They couldn’t say for sure if Harris drowned or maybe something else had occurred.

Harris had a court date coming up the week after he went missing and it didn’t look like the case was going to have a very good outcome for him, sheriff’s Chief Deputy Dusty Breen said earlier this week.

Deputies were called about 9 a.m. yesterday after two boaters fishing on the lake observed something floating in the water, according to Breen. With help from the boaters, sheriff’s office personnel were able to recover the body and bring it to shore at a boat launch, Breen stated in a press release this morning.

After lunch time today authorities identified the deceased as indeed Harris. Lewis County Coroner Warren McLeod said he died of drowning.

The details of Harris’s disappearance are murky.

Deputies had been dispatched just before 4 p.m. on July 5 to the lake on a call reporting suspicious circumstances, according to Breen.

A boater had encountered Harris’s 49-year-old girlfriend adrift in a boat on the lake and she said Harris had been in their boat, then he wasn’t in their boat but she was significantly impaired by at least alcohol and her recollection wasn’t very clear, Breen said.

Deputies got help from other boaters to search the area, brought in the Pierce County Sheriff’s Office Dive Team to check the lake with sonar devices, but also checked Harris’s residence and other locations in the community.

They entered him into the system as a missing person and continued to investigate.

Harris had been charged this spring with second-degree assault and possession of methamphetamine after an incident at the home he shared with his girlfriend on May 30. Harris bailed out of jail on June 1 and was due back in court for a hearing on July 13. A no-bail warrant was issued for his arrest when he failed to appear.

Breen indicated this afternoon that detectives still don’t have a clear picture of what occurred prior to Harris being in the water. His girlfriend has been interviewed multiple times and they are trying to piece together what they can from her recollections, according to Breen.

The sheriff’s office continues investigating the death and looking for answers, he said. The coroner has labeled the manner of death as undetermined.

He said the sheriff’s office is asking anyone with information to contact  the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office at 360-748-9286, or Lewis County Communications at 360-740-1105.

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For background, read “Search continues for missing man in Mineral Lake” from Friday July 7, 2017, here

Chehalis: Two females seriously hurt in head-on crash

Thursday, August 10th, 2017

Updated at 3:53 p.m.

By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – A 68-year-old woman and a teenage girl from Winlock were airlifted after a head-on collision last night in Chehalis.

Police and firefighters called about 9:08 p.m. to the scene on Northwest Louisiana Avenue just south of West Street found the driver of the other vehicle had fled, according to authorities.

Chehalis Police Department spokesperson Linda Bailey describes the victims’ injuries as serious. The Chehalis Fire Department says they were flown to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle. The passenger is 15 years old, according to Bailey.

The Washington State Patrol is assisting with the investigation.

As of about 2:30 p.m. today, the older woman’s condition was stable and the girl had already been released from the hospital, according to Bailey.

Their names were not released, but they had been traveling in a white 1994 Geo Metro. The suspect was driving a red 2005 Saturn Ion, according to Bailey.

The fire department said he had airbags, the women did not.

Police are looking for information about the suspect. He is described as heavy set, about 30 years old and about 5-feet 10-inches tall. Bailey said he wore a tight-fade type of haircut.

Anyone with information about his whereabouts is asked to call the Chehalis Police Department at 360-748-8605.

Sirens: Daily police and fire roundup

Wednesday, August 9th, 2017
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ASSAULT

• An 18-year-old resident of Olalla allegedly assaulted a staff member at a health care facility at the 900 block of South Scheuber Road in Centralia last night when he was upset about not being given pain medication. Police called about 9:17 p.m. booked Robert S. Hastings into the Lewis County Jail for third-degree assault, according to the Centralia Police Department.

THEFT, THEFT, THEFT

• An individual reported at 12:25 p.m. yesterday that $650 of her rent money was stolen out of a drop box in a case associated with the 1000 block of North Scheuber Road in Centralia.

• A person reported yesterday afternoon that a check that had been issued to pay a bill was stolen and then cashed by an individual unknown to them. This matter associated with the 500 block of West Main Street in Centralia is currently under investigation, according to the Centralia Police Department.

• Chehalis police were called about 7:20 a.m. today to the 1700 block of North National Avenue where someone attempted to make entry or made entry into someone else’s vehicle. It wasn’t immediately apparent if anything was missing, according to the Chehalis Police Department.

AND MORE

• And, as usual, other incidents such as arrests for warrants, driving with suspended license, driving without required interlock device; responses for alarm, dispute, civil issue, hit and run, third-degree theft, vehicle collision, suspicious circumstances … and more among 183 calls for local law enforcement and / or fire-emergency medical services in the 24-hour period ending about 7 a.m.

Police: Armed bicyclists rob male in Centralia of ‘large sum of cash’

Wednesday, August 9th, 2017
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By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – Police say a person reported he was robbed at knife point of a wallet and a large amount of money in Centralia yesterday afternoon.

The victim whose age and hometown were not revealed received a minor cut to his arm and was treated at the scene, according to the Centralia Police Department.

Officers were called at 2:19 p.m. yesterday to to the 1100 block of View Avenue about the robbery.

Police say two suspects rode away from the scene on black BMX-style bicycles.

They were described as two white males in their early twenties; one had curly blond hair and the other was wearing a black baseball cap, according to police.

The police department advises in a brief summary of the episode they will reveal nothing further about the encounter.

“No more information on this incident will be made available until the investigation has been completed,” states an email to the news media this morning from the department.