Five men allegedly assault guardsman

Investigators with the Pierce County Sheriff's Department are looking for five young men who allegedly assaulted a uniformed National Guardsman on Tuesday morning.

The guardsman was walking down 138th Street South at 8:30 a.m. when the driver of a large black SUV pulled up alongside him and asked if he was in the military, according to the Sheriff's Department.

The driver then got out of the vehicle, displayed a gun and shouted insults at the victim, according to department spokesman Ed Troyer. Four passengers got out of the car, knocked the guardsman down and kicked and punched him, police said.

The driver was described as a white male, 25 to 30 years old, 5 feet 1 inch tall, heavy build, short blond hair, wearing a black T-shirt and jeans, and armed with a handgun.

The passengers, some of whom were wearing red shirts and red baseball hats, were described as white males, 20 to 25 years old, police said.

The Sheriff's Department is offering a $1,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and charging of the suspects. People with information are asked to call 253-591-5959.

Snohomish County

17-year-old dies in head-on collision

A 17-year-old Snohomish County driver died Tuesday when his vehicle crashed head-on with a dump truck near Marysville.

The boy, whose identity was not released Wednesday afternoon, crossed the center line at about 2:25 p.m. in the 2500 block of Fire Trail Road, Snohomish County Sheriff spokesman Rich Niebusch said.

The Sheriff's Office is investigating the cause of the crash, Niebusch said.

Oil sheen likely won't cause damage

An oil sheen that was spotted in Puget Sound off the shore of Edmonds on Wednesday morning was not expected to cause any major ecological damage.

The 10-acre sheen was spotted at about 6:30 a.m. about a quarter-mile offshore by the pilot of a State Patrol aircraft that was monitoring traffic, according to the State Patrol.

The Coast Guard and the state Department of Ecology responded to the spill, but by the time officials were able to observe the area by air the spill had already dissipated, said state Department of Ecology spokesman Larry Altose.

The source of the spill likely will not be discovered because there wasn't enough oil on the water to collect a sample, Altose said.

He said the spill probably involved a "small number of gallons" of refined oil. He speculated that it may have come from a ship with mechanical problems that passed through that area overnight.

No new damage to viaduct columns

Last week's inspection of the Alaskan Way Viaduct found no new damage to two columns that had existing cracks.

The state Department of Transportation, which made the inspection, said work was conducted between Seneca and Spring streets and Yesler Way and Columbia Street. The DOT inspected two columns because they had existing cracks that increased the potential for additional unseen damage beneath the concrete.

More inspections will take place in mid-October when the roadway is closed for the state's semiannual viaduct inspection.

Seattle Times staff and news services