SPOKANE, Wash. — The Spokane County Medical Examiner's Office has identified the person killed when a car entered the Spokane River on May 5 as a 16-year-old boy.
According to the SCME, 16-year-old Maina Mugo died of drowning on May 5 after the car he was in entered and submerged in the Spokane River.
The manner of the death is listed as accidental.
The teenage male, who was the driver, was pulled out by police with the help of civilians around 11 p.m. on Monday at the 2500 block of East South Riverton. A body, that was later identified to Mugo, was located in the car wreckage Tuesday morning, according to Spokane police Sgt. Terry Preuninger.
When police arrived, several civilians were already in the water working to free the driver from the car, according to Fuller. They were joined by three Spokane police officers who were able to pull the teenage male from the submerged vehicle with the help of civilians.
Police held off searching for other victims in the car until the morning because a search was deemed too risky at night, according to Spokane Police Sgt. Teresa Fuller. The car was in a precarious position and police said they were afraid of it washing down the river.
Witnesses described seeing the car crash into another car, then go over a steep embankment into the river, Fuller said.
Speed and intoxication are being investigated as reasons for the crash, according to Fuller. Once the investigation is complete, Spokane police will forward charges to juvenile court.