Moses Lake man charged for assaulting officers

MOSES LAKE — A Moses Lake man was possibly under the influence of drugs when he allegedly resisted arrest and assaulted two Moses Lake police officers.

Grant County prosecutors charged Suede Shuttle, 22, of Moses Lake, with two counts of third-degree assault.

Shuttle’s charges date back to an incident on Oct. 16, when the Moses Lake Police Department received a report of a trespassing in progress at a gas station in the 1700 block of East Kittleson Road. Police were advised a man, alleged to be Shuttle, was asked to leave the property several times and to not drink alcohol there. Police were further told Shuttle was asking customers to buy alcohol for him, according to police records.

Shuttle was contacted in the Starbucks parking lot and he claimed that all he was doing was asking people to buy him alcohol. As he was being questioned Shuttle allegedly started walking away toward a MLPD officer and was stopped. He allegedly pulled a “blunt object” out of his pocket, which was later determined to be a large butane lighter.

Shuttle was taken to the ground by officers, but refused to get onto his stomach. Even after being told he was going to be pepper sprayed, Shuttle continued to resist and was given a short burst of pepper spray to his face by an officer. He reportedly continued to resist even after being pepper sprayed.

“I believed Suede was attempting to flip over to assault us. About that time I began trying to pry his right arm from under him Suede started kicking violently striking me more than once in my thighs while I was in the kneeling position,” wrote a officer.

Officers tazed Suede twice before they were finally able to gain control and place him into handcuffs. Emergency personnel responded to the scene to evaluate the suspect, as he had a cut over his right eye and complained his face was burning because of the pepper spray. Suede was transported to Samaritan Hospital, where an officer noted he was allegedly having a conversation with a person he believed was in a room with him, despite being alone.

“Suede was not very large in stature but he was extremely strong for his size and his pain tolerance was very high. During our interaction with Suede he was very erratic and combative,” wrote a officer. “Judging by Suede’s behavior I believe he was under the influence of some narcotic, possibly methamphetamine.”

Richard Byrd can be reached via email at city@columbiabasinherald.com.