3 women awarded $2.2M in gynecologist abuse case
Kent
Three women who said they were sexually abused by their gynecologist were awarded more than $2.2 million by a King County jury Tuesday.
Charles Momah, 51, a former obstetrician and gynecologist with clinics in Burien and Federal Way, was convicted in 2005 of raping and taking indecent liberties with four clients.
Former patients claimed he made passes at them, gave them prescriptions for drugs in exchange for sexual contact and used a vaginal ultrasound device in a sexual manner.
He is now serving a 20-year sentence at the correctional facility in Monroe.
Attorney Harish Bharti, who represented the women during the nearly monthlong civil trial at the Regional Justice Center in Kent, said the remaining civil cases he’s filed on behalf of dozens of other former Momah patients have been resolved.
Also on Tuesday, an appeals court denied Momah’s appeal of his criminal conviction.
Seattle
Bryant widens lead in Port race
Port Commission candidate Bill Bryant increased his lead over incumbent Alec Fisken Tuesday, making it unlikely Fisken will be able to regain the lead he enjoyed after Election Day.
About 5,200 votes separate the candidates for Commissioner Position 5 with about 30,000 absentee ballots left to count.
In his campaign, Bryant depicted Fisken as divisive and ineffective and accused the commission as a whole of being dysfunctional. Commission incumbents suffered from controversies over a proposed $340,000 severance package for former Port chief Mic Dinsmore and revelations that Port police had circulated sexually explicit e-mails.
Snohomish County
Lovick new sheriff; Greene concedes
Snohomish County residents can now call state legislator John Lovick their new sheriff.
Lovick’s opponent, Tom Greene, a 25-year veteran of the Sheriff’s Office, conceded Tuesday night to Lovick, whose lead has slowly grown daily as more votes are counted.
Greene has garnered just less than 49 percent of the votes counted so far.
Greene said he will take some time the next few weeks to determine whether he stays with the Sheriff’s Office or looks for other work. Greene is No. 3 at the office under outgoing Sheriff Rick Bart. Lovick has said Greene is welcome to stay in his current role with the office.
Stanwood
Emergency landing for medical copter
An Airlift Northwest medical helicopter made an emergency landing near Stanwood on Tuesday morning, forcing the temporary grounding of the agency’s remaining helicopters.
The helicopter, which was on its way to Port Townsend to pick up a patient to transport to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle, experienced rotor problems near 6 a.m. The pilot safely landed the helicopter in an open field about six miles west of Interstate 5, said agency spokeswoman Mardie Rhodes. The pilot and the two flight nurses were not injured.
Airlift Northwest ordered a safety stand-down of its remaining helicopters, except one, until the problem with the rotor can be determined. The agency operates five helicopters. Flights resumed later after the helicopters were checked for potential problems.
On Sept. 29, 2005, an Airlift Northwest helicopter lost control and crashed into Puget Sound just off Edmonds, killing pilot Stephen Smith, 59, of Whidbey Island, and nurses Erin Reed, 48, and Lois Suzuki, 47, both of Seattle. Federal investigators could not determine the cause.
Seattle
Man found dead in apartment ID’d
A man found dead in a Pioneer Square apartment Friday was identified as Ralph Honrud, 36, by the King County Medical Examiner’s Office on Tuesday. A woman found dead at the same scene was previously identified as Naeemah Smith.
The cause and manner of death for both are still pending investigation, said the Medical Examiner’s Office.
They were found in the Frye Apartments on Yesler Way and Third Avenue by an apartment manager about 2 p.m. Friday.
Olympia
Assistant treasurer to seek top post
Republican Allan Martin has announced his bid for Washington state treasurer - and he has the backing of the outgoing Democratic incumbent, Mike Murphy.
Martin, a former Chelan County treasurer, has been a top Murphy deputy since 1998 and holds the post of assistant state treasurer. Martin says Murphy’s endorsement is a huge benefit but says political affiliation doesn’t much matter in running the office. He says that if he’s elected, he’ll ask the Legislature to make the office nonpartisan.
Democratic Rep. Jim McIntire, an economist and university professor from Seattle, is running, and Democrat Chang Mook Sohn, the head of the state Revenue Forecast Council, has expressed interest.
Seattle Times staff and news services