 | Friday, November 21, 2008 |
Background: In April 2006, Jo Savage was killed after her car plunged from the fifth floor of the River Park Square parking garage. Follow this page for the latest stories and documents related to the investigation of Savage's death.
9/6/2008 | A yearlong federal investigation into the River Park Square mall found no proof of fraud, but evidence surrounding the death of a Pullman woman whose car broke through a barrier and plunged over the side of the parking garage was given to Spokane County prosecutors for possible criminal charges.
8/25/2007 | Spokane County Sheriff Ozzie Knezovich said Friday he fully supports Spokane Police Chief Anne Kirkpatrick's decision to forward homicide allegations involving the River Park Square garage to the FBI. 8/24/2007 | A former Pend Oreille County sheriff believes manslaughter charges should be filed in connection with the death of a woman whose car plunged from the River Park Square parking garage last year.
10/19/2006 | Seven months after a woman died when her car fell from the River Park Square parking garage, construction will start to prevent future failures of the structure's walls.
9/30/2006 | The city of Spokane told River Park Square officials Friday that the mall's plans to strengthen the walls of its garage are incomplete. The city's building department said it would not approve the building permit for construction until River Park Square provides more calculations and test results about the strength of the walls, according to a letter signed by city Inspector Supervisor Dan Skindzier and sent to the mall's general manager, Rob McOmie. 9/27/2006 | The insurance company representing River Park Square garage has reached a settlement with the family of a woman who died when her Subaru fell from the structure's fifth floor in April.
8/5/2006 | River Park Square officials announced Friday that they will strengthen the mall's parking garage by attaching steel rods and plates to outside-facing walls. The announcement comes four months after a Pullman woman died when her Subaru went through a barrier on the fifth floor and 13 years after an engineer suggested erecting cables along the sides to prevent cars from hitting the concrete barriers.
7/20/2006 | Half of the barriers on the first seven floors of the River Park Square Parking garage – including one that collapsed earlier this year when hit by a car – do not meet current concrete standards set in the building code, according to an engineering report released Wednesday by the city of Spokane.
Structural evaluation (PDF)
6/15/2006 | Spokane County Prosecutor Steve Tucker has declined to ask a grand jury to investigate whether criminal charges should result from the death of a woman whose car fell from the River Park Square parking garage in April. 6/8/2006 | An attorney representing the family of a woman who died when her car fell from the River Park Square garage sharply criticized mall officials Wednesday for failing to take the advice of a 1993 engineering report. 6/7/2006 | More than a decade before a Pullman woman died when her car drove through a barrier on the fifth level of the River Park Square garage, an engineer expressed concern about the sturdiness of the walls. Read the engineer's report (PDF) and the response (PDF)
5/25/2006 | A Spokane County Superior Court judge has scheduled a hearing at 1:30 p.m. June 6 to examine the River Park Square parking garage. 5/23/2006 | The River Park Square garage is closing off parking in all rows that face Spokane Falls Boulevard while the owners test the concrete barriers at the end of the spaces. 5/18/2006 | River Park Square officials said Wednesday that safety improvements will be considered to prevent another car from falling from the mall's garage. However, they stressed that any changes would be voluntary because an initial study shows the garage meets building code. 5/16/2006 | The concrete barrier that motorist Jo Ellen Savage hit in last month's fatal accident in the River Park Square parking garage exceeds building code requirements, according to a Seattle engineering firm that inspected the barrier for the garage's owner.
» View documents 5/13/2006 | Spokane attorney Steve Eugster wants a grand jury to investigate whether any criminal charges should be brought in the fatal plunge of a car out of the River Park Square garage. 5/9/2006 | Results of a Spokane police investigation into a fatal River Park Square garage accident appear to support statements made by witnesses that the victim was pulling slowly into a parking space when her car bumped the barrier and fell from the fifth story. 5/6/2006 | The chief executive of River Park Square said Friday that he is confident the garage is safe. However, nearly a month after a woman died when her car plunged from the garage's fifth floor, Robert Smith said he could not guarantee that it wouldn't happen again if a car hit one of the barriers at low speeds. 5/4/2006 | River Park Square officials will be forced to testify this month in a city hearing to determine if the mall's parking structure is safe.
4/29/2006 | Citing a 2002 study that says the River Park Square parking garage is "in poor condition," the family of a woman killed when her car plummeted from the structure's fifth level is calling for the garage to be closed. 4/15/2006 | A second investigation into last weekend's fatal accident at River Park Square garage in Spokane has begun. This one has been started by Safeco Insurance as part of a claim filed by the garage owner, said Jennifer West, a spokeswoman for River Park Square. 4/11/2006 | Last weekend wasn't the first time that the concrete walls of River Park Square's parking garage have been breached by a car. In March 1991, a driver accelerated into the concrete barrier on the fourth floor of the garage, sending chunks of the wall falling onto the street below. 4/10/2006 | Police investigators will begin searching for answers today into what caused a 62-year-old woman in a station wagon to plummet five stories to her death from a downtown Spokane parking garage Saturday. 4/9/2006 | First they heard the crush of metal. Then came the screams. "It was a horrific sound – a lot of metal and concrete," said Staci Andreas, who parked her car shortly after noon on the pink level of the River Park Square garage.
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