MOSES LAKE — A Moses Lake man was charged for giving police a fake name during a traffic stop and attempting to elude a police officer.

Grant County prosecutors charged Levi Godfrey 26, of Moses Lake, with attempting to elude, first-degree driving with a suspended or revoked license, making a false or misleading statement to a public servant and hit-and-run (property damage).

The charges stem from an incident on Sunday, when AutoZone reported a male, alleged to be Godfrey, had stolen something from their South Pioneer Way location and left in a Ford Bronco. Police were given a description of the suspect and the vehicle and AutoZone advised they wanted the suspect to be trespassed from the business if located, according to police records.

A MLPD officer later spotted the suspect vehicle traveling south on South Pioneer Way. The officer pulled over the vehicle at the state Route 17/East Yonezwawa Boulevard intersection and the driver, Godfrey, allegedly denied having been at AutoZone earlier in the day.

“When I advised Levi AutoZone may not press charges if they recovered their property, and simply wanted him trespassed, Levi admitted he had taken an item from the store,” wrote the officer. “Levi advised a panel light, which I observed in the center console area of the truck, was the item he had taken. Levi provided me with the light and the original packaging.”

Godfrey went on to give the officer a fake name and did not come clean about his identity. He did hand over a USB external battery however, which he admitted to stealing from AutoZone. When the MLPD officer went back to his patrol vehicle, Godfrey reportedly took off and started heading down SR-17 at a high rate of speed. He continued traveling eastbound off of SR-17 and crashed into and drove over a barbed wire fence that runs alongside the east side of SR-17.

He started accelerating and continued driving south through an open field, before crashing into the west bank of a canal. Godfrey fled from the crashed vehicle on foot, with police locating some footprints that led north in the soft mud of the drained canal. Godfrey was later located nearby and taken into custody.

“While photographing the Bronco, I observed the end of a glass smoking pipe with white residue on the driver's floorboard in plain view through the driver’s door window. Based on my training and experience, I believed the white residue in the pipe to be methamphetamine,” wrote a officer.

As Godfrey was being booked into the Grant County Jail, a .22-caliber bullet was reportedly found in one of his pockets, according to police records.

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