Man shot by MLPD officer sentenced

MOSES LAKE — A Warden man who was shot by a Moses Lake Police Department officer will be spending more than six years in prison in connection with the incident.

Roberto Escamilla Mendoza, 38, of Warden, pleaded guilty in Grant County Superior Court to attempted first-degree assault and attempted delivery of methamphetamine. Following a joint recommendation between Deputy Prosecutor Ed Owens and defense attorney Michael Morgan, Grant County Superior Court Judge David Estudillo sentenced Escamilla Mendoza to six-and-a-half years in prison.

On Sept. 4, 2014, the day before Escamilla Mendoza was shot by Moses Lake Police Department Sgt. Brian Jones in the parking lot at Lep-Re-Kon Harvest Foods, members of the MLPD, Warden Police Department and Grant County Sheriff’s Office conducted a search warrant for meth at a residence in the 1000 block of South Grant Street in Warden.

Officers found a bag of meth in a toilet, which the male occupant of the home said he had bought from Escamilla Mendoza earlier in the week. He claimed he had known Escamilla Mendoza for a number of years and had been regularly buying meth from him for a year.

“(The man) said he had made a total of 12 purchases of meth from Escamilla in that time span, to include three purchases of meth within the last month,” wrote a MLPD officer.

The man was arrested and booked into the Grant County Jail, but agreed to help officers set up a drug buy for one ounce of meth from Escamilla Mendoza at Lep-Re-Kon on Sept. 5. Officers surveilled Escamilla Mendoza from his residence in the 1900 block of West Spruce Street to the location of the drug buy.

Officers approached Escamilla Mendoza when he pulled into a parking spot and reported witnessing him “violently reverse, then take off around the back of the strip mall.” As Escamilla Mendoza pulled forward and started to accelerate he was shot by Jones, who later said he believed the suspect was going to run into one of his fellow officers.

Escamilla Mendoza was airlifted to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle after the incident for treatment of the gunshot wound. Police records indicate a bag of crystal meth, which matched the packaging of the bag of meth found in the Warden residence on Sept. 4, was found in one of his pockets after he was shot.

A search warrant was obtained for Escamilla Mendoza’s West Spruce Street residence later in the day on Sept. 5, which turned up 5.7 pounds of meth, $4,600 in cash, a digital scale, and several hundred documents belonging to Escamilla Mendoza, including the title to the vehicle he was shot in earlier in the day.

Former Grant County Prosecutor Angus Lee decided not to press charges against Jones after interviewing officers who were present at the scene and taking into account an investigation submitted by officers who were not involved in the case. Lee concluded Jones acted within the law when he shot Escamilla Mendoza to prevent a fellow officer from being struck by the suspect’s vehicle.

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