Minor arrested in Moses Lake on various charges

by STAFF REPORT
Staff Report | February 19, 2024 2:58 PM

MOSES LAKE — A male 16-year-old Moses Lake resident was booked into the Chelan County Juvenile Center in Wenatchee on suspicion of unlawful possession of a firearm, possession of a stolen vehicle, DUI and other charges after he allegedly led officers on a chase that eventually ended in Ephrata early Saturday morning.

According to a release from the Grant County Sheriff’s Office, the suspect was arrested after allegedly running from Moses Lake Police Department officers and Grant County Sheriff’s Office deputies in a stolen car. Moses Lake officers were investigating a report of a different stolen car at about 4:25 a.m. Saturday when the owner of the stolen car pointed out a vehicle, a 2008 Honda Acura, that the owner said had been around throughout the night.

An MLPD officer tried to stop the car, but the driver took off, and the MLPD officer stopped pursuing. Other officers and GCSO deputies started following the driver, who led them into, then out of, Cascade Valley, the release said, avoiding a set of spike strips.

Officers contacted the registered owner of the Acura and found it had been stolen from the driveway of a residence on Joann Drive in Moses Lake.

“The Acura passed a (GCSO) deputy at SR 17 and Neppel Road, (who) then followed the Acura and observed it from a safe distance as there was hardly any traffic on the highway at that time of the morning,” the release said. “The deputy radioed ahead to Ephrata Police, who laid down spike strips at SR 282 and Nat Washington Way.”

The car hit the spike strips but the driver kept going, running on the rims to the roundabout at the intersection of SR 282 and A Street Southeast. The driver ran into a second set of spike strips and turned down A Street; he got to Nat Washington Way.

“A deputy performed a low-speed PIT maneuver and brought the Acura to a stop on the sidewalk,” the release said.

The boy was found in possession of a .25-caliber handgun and the keys to the car that prompted the original stolen car report. That car was found parked near the residence where the Acura was stolen, the release said. The boy also was charged with felony eluding.