A 50-year-old Moses Lake man was tased and arrested after he allegedly threatened to stab officers, fled twice, and turned toward police holding an object that looked like a knife during a trespassing call near Central Drive earlier this month. Police say the man had repeatedly returned to the same private property despite having no ownership claim to it, and had previously been formally warned to stay away from the area.
According to Apple Valley News Now, Moses Lake police responded on September 1 to a report of a person trespassing on private property near Central Drive. Officers said the man had frequently returned to the property and had already been formally trespassed from the area, meaning he was legally barred from being there. Police say the man claimed to own the property, but officers determined that he did not.
Per the same report, an officer first attempted to de-escalate the situation, but the man allegedly threatened to stab the next officer who tried to remove him from the property. He then ran from the officer, disregarded commands to stop, and at one point turned around holding an object that appeared to be a knife — later identified by police as a black battery pack — before dropping it and taking a fighting stance.
Taser Deployment Ends Second Foot Chase
When the man ran from the officer a second time, police say an officer deployed a Taser, and the man fell to the ground, losing one shoe in the fall. He was then taken into custody on charges of first-degree criminal trespass and resisting arrest, according to the same account, and was booked into Grant County Jail.
Under Washington law, RCW 9A.52.070 classifies first-degree criminal trespass as a gross misdemeanor, punishable by up to 364 days in jail and a $5,000 fine. Resisting arrest, defined under RCW 9A.76.040 as intentionally preventing a peace officer from carrying out a lawful arrest, carries a lighter maximum of 90 days in jail and a $1,000 fine. Because the charges are gross misdemeanor and misdemeanor offenses rather than felonies, the case will be handled by the Grant County District Court in Ephrata, which processes non-felony matters for the county.
State Law Governs When Officers Can Use a Taser
Washington's use-of-force statutes, RCW 10.120.010 and 10.120.020, classify conducted energy devices like Tasers as less-lethal alternatives that officers may deploy when physical force is necessary and proportional to complete a lawful arrest or prevent harm. That framework offers legal context for the officer's decision to use the device once the man fled a second time after allegedly brandishing what appeared to be a weapon.
This isn't the first time Moses Lake officers have used a Taser during a foot pursuit. In May 2018, police deployed a Taser on a 46-year-old suspect who tried to flee on a stolen motorbike after breaking into a vehicle inside the police department's own sally port. The 500 block of Central Drive, where the September trespassing case unfolded, was also the scene of a May 2025 shots-fired call in which a 17-year-old was treated for a gunshot wound.
New Grant County Jail Now Holding Suspect
The man was booked into Grant County's new $155 million, 512-bed adult corrections facility in Ephrata, which replaced the county's old 85-bed jail after officials celebrated its grand opening in June. The larger facility was built to resolve decades of overcrowding in the county's corrections system.
Moses Lake, the largest city in Grant County with an estimated population of nearly 27,000, has kept its police department busy in recent years; the department logged more than 22,000 total incidents in 2021 alone, including calls for service and traffic stops. It's unclear whether the man has entered a plea in the case.
