Acid thrown on deputies
SOAP LAKE - Two Grant County Sheriff's deputies received chemical burns when a domestic violence suspect allegedly assaulted them with muriatic acid.
The incident occurred Thursday night at around 6:40 p.m. when deputies were called to a residence on Road 18.2 Northeast in rural Soap Lake, Grant County Sheriff's Chief Deputy Ken Jones said on Friday.
A woman reportedly told dispatchers her son, Todd Wedge, 38, had assaulted her by striking her in the back with a drinking glass. During the phone call, dispatchers could hear Wedge in the background, "yelling about how he is going to shoot any officers that show up," according to a dispatch call report.
A Soap Lake police officer arrived at the home first and found Wedge reportedly barricaded himself in a shed behind the home.
When Grant County Sheriff's deputies Greg Hutchison, Gary Mansford and an Ephrata police officer arrived and approached the shed, Wedge reportedly began ingesting household chemicals, including windshield washer fluid, carburetor cleaner and muriatic acid.
Wedge allegedly sprayed a highly-flammable carburetor cleaner on himself in an apparent attempt to dissuade officers from using a Taser to subdue him, Jones stated.
Deputies used pepper spray to incapacitate Wedge, but before he was handcuffed he allegedly grabbed a jug of muriatic acid and splashed it onto officers.
Muriatic acid is extremely corrosive and highly caustic. Similar to hydrochloric acid, it is used to clean such things as outdoor pavement, Jones stated.
Deputies Hutchison and Mansford received burns to the face and various other places, and were transported to Samaritan Hospital, treated and released.
The Soap Lake and Ephrata officers were uninjured.
Wedge was transported to Columbia Basin Hospital where he was treated before being booked into the Grant County Jail on suspicion of assault-domestic violence and assault upon law enforcement officers.
Wedge's mother declined medical treatment.
"Deputy Hutchison was wearing eyeglasses, and his glasses stopped the acid from going right into his eyes," Sheriff Tom Jones stated Friday. "This incident highlights some of the hazards our law enforcement officers face every day, and I'm very grateful none of the officers involved received more serious injuries."