Updated at 10:02 p.m.
RUBBER RAFT DUMPS PASSENGERS INTO COWLITZ RIVER
• Firefighters were called to a boating accident in the Cowlitz River in Toledo yesterday evening when a lightweight inflatable raft hit something in the water and popped. There were several people that went in the water and two girls ages 11 and 8 were plucked out, according to Lewis County Fire District 2. Fire Chief Grant Wiltbank said he understood they put their craft in upstream from the bridge over state Route 505 and one man helped one of the girls near the bridge and another man caught the second girl as she floated downstream. It could have been a deadly incident if not for the life jackets the children were wearing, according to Wiltbank. Below the surface of the river, the currents can run in all different directions, and bends in rivers often hold downed trees, the branches of which act as a strainer and can rip rafts up, he said. “Even though on the surface it looks like it’s moving slow at times, it’s extremely powerful underneath,” he said. One man who had been in the water was really cold and needed to get warmed up so he was taken to Providence Centralia Hospital, according to Lewis County Medic One.
UNLAWFUL IMPRISONMENT
• A 25-year-old Morton resident was arrested for unlawful imprisonment after an incident on Friday that went on for about three hours at the 600 block of state Route 7 outside Morton. Deputies called about 7 p.m. after his 18-year-old girlfriend finally got away were told he didn’t want her to leave, called her names, threw things, stepped in front of her and threatened to cut his own throat, according to the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office. Chief Civil Deputy Stacy Brown said Jonathan J. Kaye began cutting on himself and when the young woman finally ran to her car and fled, he chased her down state Route 508. Kaye was subsequently located and booked into the Lewis County Jail, Chief Civil Deputy Stacy Brown said.
ANGRY EX-BOYFRIEND ARRESTED
• A 23-year-old Winlock man was arrested after he reportedly barged into a home and assaulted his ex-girlfriend and his longtime friend on Friday morning at the 100 block of Allman Road in Winlock. Sean M. Riley allegedly threw a television to the floor and stomped on it and slashed tires on the two victim’s vehicles before leaving, according to the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office. Deputies called about 9:30 a.m. learned the young woman got a next door neighbor to break up the fight, according to the sheriff’s office. Riley was subsequently located and booked into the Lewis County Jail for fourth-degree assault, malicious mischief and burglary, Chief Civil Deputy Stacy Brown said.
CENTRALIA HOME BURGLARIZED
• The Lewis County Sheriff’s Office reported this morning someone made off with a vintage watch, broach and pocket watch, a handgun and numerous other valuables totaling about $4,000 from a home on the 100 block of Blanchard Road in Centralia last Wednesday. The resident called 911 about 3 p.m. when she returned home and found her belonging thrown around, according to the sheriff’s office. A dog track was conducted and it appeared someone left on an ATV, Chief Civil Deputy Stacy Brown said.
PURSE SNATCHING
• An Onalaska woman turned her back on her shopping cart as she loaded up her vehicle outside Wal-Mart and someone walking by took her purse, according to the Chehalis Police Department. An officer responding about 5 p.m. on Saturday learned from surveillance video it was a white male in his 20s driving a green four-door passenger car with a small spoiler, according to police.
FRAUD
• Morton police were contacted on Thursday by a resident who discovered someone had stolen checks from her purse, forged her name and cashed them in the amount of about $260. The case is still under investigation, according to the Morton Police Department.
SNOOZING IN THE BUSHES
• A 51-year-old homeless man was arrested yesterday morning for trespassing after he was found sleeping in the bushes, with empty beer cans, at a convalescent home in Centralia. Keith A. Smith is from Centralia and has been told by the owners and police he may not go to Cooks Hill Manor, except to visit his girlfriend, according to the Centralia Police Department. An officer called just before 11 a.m. to the location on the 2000 block of Cooks Hill Road booked Smith into the Lewis County Jail, according to police.
DOG BITES
• First responders were called about 10:40 p.m. yesterday by law enforcement to an area near milepost 63 and Interstate 5 near Winlock and Toledo for an individual with multiple dog bites. The Lewis County Sheriff’s Office said it sent its K-9 to conduct a track to assist troopers following a hit and run incident, in connection with a 29-year-old Longview man. Further details were not readily available. The patient was transported to Providence Centralia Hospital, according to Lewis County Fire District 5.
PETS PERISH IN RV FIRE
• Two small dogs died from smoke inhalation when a fire broke out in a fifth-wheel trailer being used as a home in the Doty-Dryad area on Saturday morning. Lewis County Fire District 16 Chief Greg Feuchter said no one was home at the time and there was smoke damage throughout with heavy fire damage to the front of the trailer.
TRAILER OF HAY IGNITES ON HIGHWAY
• Firefighters were called about 4:30 p.m. on Saturday when a large load of hay bales on a flatbed trailer caught fire while being pulled down U.S. Highway 12 just east of Mary’s Corner near Larmon Road. Nobody was hurt; the man, woman and children pulled over after noticing the trailer was on fire, according to Lewis County Fire District 5. Firefighter Brad Bozarth said one lane of the highway was closed for about 20 minutes and the other for roughly three hours while crews doused the smoldering pile of hay. He estimated there were about 200 bales. The bed of the Ford F250 pickup burned, but not the cab, he said.
COLLISIONS
• A motorcycle rider from Sequim was injured yesterday when he slowed for freeway traffic yesterday in Chehalis and had to lay his bike down to avoid slamming into the back of a car. Troopers and aid called about 1:15 p.m. to the northbound lanes near Labree Road found Eric T. Thomas separated from his his bike and then slid as much as 30 feet on the roadway, according to responders. “He was wearing protective gear so that saved a lot of road rash,” Chehalis Fire Department Capt. Ted McCarty said. Thomas, 50, had a hurt shoulder and facial laceration, according to McCarty. He was flown by helicopter to Harborview Medical center in Seattle, primarily because they couldn’t be sure if he had internal injuries, according to McCarty. He was to be issued a citation for speed too fast for conditions, according to Washington State Patrol. His 1998 Honda GL 1500 was damaged, according to the state patrol.
• A woman escaped with small cuts from broken glass when she wrecked her car on the 600 block of Reynolds Avenue in Centralia yesterday afternoon, coming to rest wedged partially beneath the trailer of a parked 18-wheeler. She had left the roadway and hit a culvert, according to Riverside Fire Authority. “She was able to back out and was standing outside when we got there,” Fire Capt. Erik Olson said.
AND MORE
• And as usual, other incidents such as arrest for warrants, trespass, misdemeanor assault, driving under the influence, driving with suspended license, providing false statement, failure to transfer vehicle title; responses for alarms, disputes, possible fraud, misdemeanor theft, suspicious circumstances, violation of protection order, dogs or children left alone inside vehicles in parking lots, noisy kids on playground after 10 p.m. … and more.