Two die at sand dunes

Unrelated incidents

COLUMBIA BASIN — Two died and one was seriously injured in separate incidences at the sand dunes Sunday.

Spencer Whitman, 10, New Castle, was pronounced dead at the scene after an all-terrain vehicle accident at the Beverly Sand Dunes Sunday morning, Grant County Chief Deputy Coroner Lynette Henson reported.

Witnesses report Whitman lost control of the vehicle at a high rate of speed and became airborne. He was wearing a helmet and was riding the vehicle

by himself, she said.

"He made a jump with the vehicle in the hardpan area of the sand dunes park," Grant County Chief Criminal Deputy John Turley stated. "The impact of the strike forced the ten-year-old into the handlebars and the hard ground."

The coroner and sheriff personnel attended to Whitman until his parents arrived from the Seattle area, he reported.

His parents stated Whitman was an experienced rider.

Another was reported dead the same day in a different set of sand dunes.

David R. Row, 64, Federal Way, was found unresponsive at the sand dunes near Royal City on state Route 26, according to the coroner's office.

Witnesses report Row was riding a motorcycle when he fell over with the bike, Henson said.

It appears he died of heart failure while trying to dislodge his bike when it became stuck in a sandy spot on the race course during a hill climb, Turley reported.

Speed and trauma did not appear to be a factor in the death, Henson noted.

Autopsies for each victim are scheduled for Tuesday to determine the cause of death.

In a third incident, a five-year-old male was seriously injured during a recreational vehicle accident in the sand dunes eight miles south of Moses Lake.

According to the sheriff's office the male was riding on the back of the vehicle with his father driving.

"As they traversed a large sand dune, the quad-runner flipped and both dad and son went over backwards," Turley stated.

The five-year-old was eventually taken to Sacred Heart Hospital for treatment to a lacerated liver, a punctured lung and severe lung bruising, he noted.

The father was not injured.