Pizza-Enthusing Relatives Brawl in Moses Lake; One Woman Jailed

A family quarrel over pizza turned violent on Sunday, resulting in assault charges for two women in Moses Lake.

On the evening of May 19, authorities in Moses Lake were dispatched to a residence on W. Oregon Street.

This was a most unusual domestic disturbance call. 30-year-old Sabreana Emerson reportedly came to blows with her aunt, an unidentified woman 21 years her senior. The conflict arose from a single slice of pizza.

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It remains unclear why, specifically, the two women were at loggerheads. Speculation is wholly futile and inappropriate in cases like this, but perhaps it was a question of scarcity, i.e., the women could not agree on who was entitled to the last slice of a much larger pizza.

At press time we were awaiting comment from Capt. Jeff Sursely of the Moses Lake Police Department. (Sursely, who previously held the rank of sergeant, was promoted to captain mere days ago.)

Eventually the matter was resolved, though not in a manner favorable to either party. Emerson was taken into custody on fourth-degree assault charges.

Under state law fourth-degree assault is a gross misdemeanor punishable by a maximum of 364 days in jail. Steep fines - up to $5,000 - are sometimes leveled too. Though not without grave consequences, this is the "least serious" type of assault charge, according to LegalMatch.

Emerson and her aunt face identical charges, but it appears that only Emerson was booked into Grant County Jail. (Again, it remains unclear why the aunt was spared this indignity.)

As of this morning Emerson was still being housed in the minimum security wing of GCJ, according to the jailhouse roster.