Officer Wounded During Deputy’s Killing Is Out of Hospital

SEATTLE (AP) — Fellow first responders gathered at nearly every exit along Interstate 90 Saturday as the Kittitas police officer who was wounded in a shootout that killed a Kittitas County deputy returned home after being released from a Seattle hospital.
Kittitas police officer Benito Chavez was shot in the leg and suffered a shattered femur Tuesday evening when he and Kittitas County sheriff's deputy Ryan Thompson confronted a road rage suspect who opened fire on them. Thompson, who was 42, was killed, as was the suspect, identified as 29-year-old Juan Manuel Flores Del Toro.
KING-TV reported that the 22-year-old Chavez was released from Harborview Medical Center on Saturday afternoon and that his escort back to central Washington included Seattle and Bellevue police vehicles.
Thompson left behind a wife and three children. The county has established memorial funds to support his family, and a memorial is planned for next Thursday at Central Washington University.