'Dummy' passenger nets
ticket for dummy driver
November 30-A dummy placed in a car's passenger seat as a decoy for driving in freeway car-pool (HOV) lanes didn't fool a Washington State Patrol trooper.
As the car headed north at 7:55 a.m. on Interstate 5 at Kent-Des Moines Road, the trooper noticed the "passenger" didn't appear lifelike, and stopped the 27-year-old driver from Olalla.
He got a $124 ticket for violating the restricted lane.
North Highline
$20 million lawsuit filed
by family of Deputy Cox
December 3-A $20 million lawsuit was filed against the state Department of Corrections by the family of King County Sheriff's Deputy Steve Cox.
Cox, 46, died Dec. 2, 2006, after a gang member he attempted to interview shot him inside a White Center home.
His killer, Raymond Porter, was a convicted felon under community supervision. Porter was shot and killed by other deputies after Cox was gunned down.
The suit filed by Cox's widow, Maria, and 2-year-old son claims the department was negligent when it released Porter from prison, and then was negligent in its supervision of him.
According to the complaint, Porter escaped prison in 2004 while on work release. Following his capture, he was sentenced to 33 months sentence on top of his original sentence on felony drug charges.
But he was released in August 2005, never serving time for escape.
Department of Corrections' documents "reveal that Porter should have still been in prison at the time he shot and killed Deputy Cox," the complaint states.
Corrections spokesman Chad Lewis told the Seattle Post-Intelligencer that the "department is concerned for the Cox family and anguishes over this senseless death. The department will work with the Office of the Attorney General on this matter but routinely does not discuss tort claims at this early stage."
The agency has come under scrutiny for three cases in 2006 in which police officers, including Cox, were killed by felons out on early release and under state supervision.
Gov. Chris Gregoire requested a report after Cox was killed. It found that corrections officers' failed to respond quickly to violations committed by offenders on community release.
