Girl arrested tossing rocks onto Hwy. 512

A 16-year-old girl was arrested Saturday night after State Patrol troopers observed her throwing rocks at passing cars from an overpass above Highway 512, authorities said.

Several troopers in plain clothes had the bridge under surveillance because the Patrol had received more than a dozen complaints over the past week of drivers being hit by falling debris, Trooper J. J. Gundermann said. They watched the teenager grab some rocks and toss them into oncoming traffic before arresting her about 9:30 p.m.

"I don't have an exact number on how many incidents there have been, but we've had several people call or come in and say this has happened to them," Gundermann said. "For the past week every night, it seems like we've had two or three drivers let us know."

Gundermann said there have been no accidents as a result, and he doubts the Patrol will ever know exactly how many cars were hit by rocks. He also said it's not clear whether other people were involved.

But, "we do know that we have some evidence and leads that suggest she may be responsible for more than one episode," he said.

Austrian tourist hit by truck dies

An Austrian tourist struck by a hit-and-run driver earlier this month died yesterday afternoon at Harborview Medical Center, a nursing supervisor said.

Uta Michl, 55, had been in critical condition with severe head injuries suffered when she was hit by what police to believe was a truck Oct. 7 in Issaquah.

A passer-by found her lying unconscious on Highlands Drive, police said.

Michl had taken a bus to Seattle to visit friends and had returned to a park-and-ride lot when she was hit.

Police have been looking for a three-quarter-to one-ton flatbed truck with a dual-tire rear axle and probably damage to its right-front area.

Fall City man killed in crash on Hwy. 18

An 87-year-old Fall City man was killed in a three-car accident that closed Highway 18 for three hours near Maple Valley on Saturday night.

Roy C. Thurlkill was driving westbound on 244th Avenue Southeast about 7 p.m. Saturday when his 1999 Subaru wagon struck a pickup stopped at a red light. He was pronounced dead at the scene, according to the State Patrol.

Donald Dematteis, 62, and Cathryn Dematteis, 60, the driver and passenger of the pickup, were both injured and taken to Valley Medical Center in Renton. Their truck also struck a Dodge pickup headed east on Highway 18, but the driver of the Dodge was not injured.

The highway was closed between 244th and Issaquah-Hobart Road until about 10 p.m.

SUV hits rail, rolls; 1 killed, 1 injured

A 23-year-old man was killed late Saturday when his sport-utility vehicle apparently failed to negotiate a curve while turning onto Highway 167 near Auburn.

Chea Keo, 23, of Kent, was heading east on Highway 18 about 10:10 p.m. when he tried to get on 167 northbound, according to the State Patrol. Keo crossed into oncoming traffic, struck a guardrail and then rolled the vehicle, the Patrol reported.

Keo's passenger, 22-year-old Roth Pao, also of Kent, was airlifted to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle.

Ferry owner seeks historic designation

The beleaguered art-deco ferry Kalakala could have a permanent home in Tacoma and a protective historical designation if its owner, Steve Rodrigues, succeeds in his latest attempt to save it.

Rodrigues has applied to have the ferry placed on the National Register of Historic Places.

The Kalakala ran between Seattle and Bremerton from the mid-1930s until the mid-1960s, but fell into disrepair over the years. Rodrigues bought it at bankruptcy auction two years ago. He hopes to restore the old ferry, but he's run into trouble raising the money.

The Kalakala was moored at Lake Union until Rodrigues bought it. He moved it to Neah Bay on the Olympic Peninsula, and then to Tacoma, where it has been moored for about a year.

According to the national-register application, "the Kalakala still evokes an aesthetic or historic sense of the past."

Besides the national register, Rodrigues is applying to have the vessel added to state and local historic designations and to have it named as a National Floating Landmark.

Driver arrested after brief chase

Seattle police arrested a man yesterday morning after using "stop sticks" to pop a tire on his car during a brief pursuit.

The man was circling a Southeast Seattle neighborhood for about half an hour before police started to follow him a little after 10 a.m. He began driving recklessly and refused to pull over, police said, so they deflated one of the front tires.

Police chased him as he continued to drive, but when he headed north in the southbound lanes of Rainier Avenue South, police stopped their chase, deeming it too dangerous. He eventually rammed into two cars — one occupied, one unoccupied — at 46th Avenue South and South Graham Street, according to Seattle police spokesman Rich Pruitt.

There were no major injuries, but the man was treated at Harborview Medical Center before being booked into the King County Jail on suspicion of hit-and-run and reckless driving, Pruitt said.

Seattle Times staff and news services