Man charged for alleged assault with vehicle

MOSES LAKE — A Moses Lake man is facing an assault charge for allegedly bumping into the mother of his children with a vehicle at the Moses Lake Sand Dunes in view of two off-duty deputies.

Grant County prosecutors charged Shawn Miller, 30, of Moses Lake, in Grant County Superior Court with second-degree assault, domestic violence.

Miller’s charge stems from an incident on April 28, when the Grant County Sheriff’s Office received a report of some sort of disturbance at the Moses Lake Sand Dunes. A deputy responded to the area and contacted a woman who explained she was at the Sand Dunes with another man when Miller, whom she described as her “roommate” and the father of her two children, drove up to them, according to court documents.

The woman said Miller took the keys from her vehicle and he attempted to run her over with his vehicle. The victim says during the altercation she “bounced off” Miller’s vehicle. The responding deputy observed the woman didn’t have any “readily” visible signs of injury stemming from being hit or run into by Miller’s vehicle. The altercation was witnessed by two off-duty deputies, Jason and Katrina Ball, who were out boating on Moses Lake that day. Jason said they witnessed a male, believed to be Miller, approach the female victim in a Jeep and he bumped her with the vehicle.

“I asked Ball in his opinion as a law enforcement officer if he thought that the female was going to be or get run over, and he told me ‘yes,’” wrote a deputy.

The investigating deputy later learned the victim was hit/struck in the mid-section when Miller’s vehicle stopped, which caused her upper body and arms to lay on top of the hood “at the point of the two colliding with each other." Miller was contacted at his residence by the deputy and interviewed about what occurred. Miller said he drove out to the Sand Dunes to contact the female victim and when he arrived he ended up “having words” with the woman and taking the keys from her vehicle.

“I asked about trying to run over (the victim), and Miller told me that she had jumped in front of him as he was trying to leave, and that she (ended) up throwing her hands onto the hood of the vehicle,” wrote a deputy.

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