Seattle

Cabdriver injured in racial attack

Seattle police say an attack on a cabdriver early Sunday morning in Belltown was racially motivated.

According to police, the incident happened in the 400 block of Cedar Street. The suspect, who is white, got into a cab and asked the driver, "What race are you?"

Police said that when the driver replied that he was Indian, the suspect punched him in the face, cutting the skin above his eye, then fled.

The driver, who declined medical attention, told police that the suspect had a Swiss Army knife. After police found the suspect and arrested him, the cabdriver positively identified him.

The suspect was booked into the King County Jail.

North Bend

Wrong-way crash on I-90 injures 2

Two drivers were taken to hospitals after a collision early Sunday morning that closed all eastbound lanes of Interstate 90 for more than two hours, according to the State Patrol.

Just before 4:30 a.m., Shelby Smith, 20, of North Bend, was driving westbound in an eastbound lane of I-90. The patrol said Smith's vehicle struck a car driven by Alastair Harper, 43, of Snoqualmie, and that Harper's vehicle caught fire.

All eastbound lanes of I-90 at 468th Avenue Southeast were closed from about 5 a.m. to 7:30 a.m.

Smith was taken to Harborview Medical Center and listed in serious condition Sunday. Harper went to Overlake Hospital Medical Center in Bellevue. Both vehicles were totaled, the Patrol said.

Seattle

Man seen running from house fire

Seattle police and fire investigators were looking into a suspicious fire Sunday that caused mostly smoke damage in a house in the 3500 block of South Austin Street.

A preliminary investigation showed a burglar entered the house, ransacked it and then set a stack of papers on the kitchen stove and turned on the burners, police said.

A witness who reported the fire saw a young man run from the side yard of the house and disappear into the backyard, police said.

Firefighters and police responded shortly before noon, police said. A woman who lives at the house was at church, said Seattle Police Department spokeswoman Renee Witt.

Billings

737 lands with cracked window

Officials say an AirTran Airways flight from Washington state to Wisconsin made an emergency landing in Billings, Mont., after the windshield cracked.

Officials at Billings' Logan International Airport say the Boeing 737 landed at about 4 p.m. Saturday. KULR-TV reports (http://bit.ly/ubNsS3) no one was injured.

Times staff and news services