LONGVIEW, Wash. (AP) — A Cowlitz County sheriff’s officer says a 9-year-old boy died when a car in which he was riding veered off a road, down an embankment and into a slough in the Longview area. The driver survived.
Chief Criminal Deputy Charlie Rosenzweig says 39-year-old Kenneth Whitmire of Longview told deputies he was driving Monday afternoon on Willow Grove Road when he swerved to miss an animal, lost control of the car and ended up in the slough. He says he tried to get his nephew Christian Cervantz out as the car submerged but could not find him. The car was fully submerged when deputies arrived.
Divers from Cowlitz Dive Rescue found the boy’s body at about 4:30 p.m.
