2 caregivers won't be charged in death

King County prosecutors have declined to file criminal charges against two state Department of Social and Health Services caregivers who were monitoring a developmentally disabled client before she drowned.

Justine Booth died at Valley Medical Center in Renton on Oct. 17. Her family said she had been in a vegetative state since Oct. 10, when employees at the Kent area's State Operated Living Alternatives found her unconscious in a bathtub. After the death, Marybeth Poch, a DSHS regional administrator, said that the caregivers should never have left her alone in the tub.

King County Deputy Prosecutor Tim Leary, who declined to file criminal charges last month, said the two female caregivers claimed to have checked on Booth every four minutes. They also told investigators they followed the correct protocols. In the end, investigators couldn't refute their story, Leary said.

The caregivers, whose names weren't released, still work for DSHS but have been reassigned away from client care, Poch said. DSHS is still investigating the 33-year-old woman's death.

Seattle

7 teams in county set for mock-trial finals

King County will send seven teams to the state YMCA High School Mock Trial finals March 23-25 in Olympia.

Twenty teams from King County competed for seven slots in the state finals, and Seattle Prep won two of them, said King County Superior Court Judge William Downing, who helps coordinate the state program.

Rounding out the list are three other Seattle high schools — Franklin, University Prep and Roosevelt — and Eastside Catholic in Bellevue and Liberty High School in the Renton area.

Kent

Monoxide poisoning thought accidental

A case of carbon-monoxide poisoning that sickened a man and his two children near Kent on Monday afternoon was probably an accident, the King County Sheriff's Office said Tuesday.

Detectives were investigating the incident as a possible suicide attempt because the father left his car running in the garage while he and his children were in the house, said sheriff's deputy Bob Conner.

The exhaust fumes seeped into the house, and the father and children were taken to a hospital, where they were treated for non-life-threatening poisoning, Conner said.

Sammamish

2 at Eastlake High hurt by car in lot

Two students suffered minor injuries Tuesday when they were struck by a car in the parking lot at Eastlake High School.

The incident took place about 7:30 a.m., said Josie Williams, public-information officer for Eastside Fire & Rescue.

The victims were two young women, 17 and 18, who were walking in a parking lot at the school at 400 228th Ave. N.E. when they were hit by a car driven by a student, Williams said.

Neither student appeared to be seriously injured, but they were taken to Overlake Hospital Medical Center in Bellevue for an evaluation, she added.

The accident is under investigation by the Sammamish Police Department.

Everett

Bomb threat clears civic complex again

Tuesday, for the second time in a week, a bomb threat caused the evacuation of Snohomish County's civic complex in downtown Everett.

An unidentified man delivered the threat by telephone to the Superior Court building about 1:30 p.m., said Everett police Sgt. Robert Goetz.

The court complex and adjacent county administration buildings were cleared for an hour while county marshals searched the courthouse and police searched the parking garage, he said.

On Feb. 28, a similar threat at 1 p.m. caused an hourlong evacuation.

Times staff and news services