A soldier serving in the U.S. Army will be in court Wednesday morning after allegedly causing a police chase that forced a local police officer to fire a shot at him.
Twenty-four-year-old Eddie Phillips of Avondale is charged with felonious assault, failure to comply, OVI, and other counts. According to Springdale Police, Phillips identified his employer as the U.S. Army.
Police had to go to great lengths to arrest Phillips and another man early Tuesday morning, after one reportedly pulled a gun on them.
According to police, the incident began around 2 a.m. when a Springdale officer pulled over a vehicle on
Northland Blvd. at Springfield Pike for suspicion of OVI.
Police say they were preparing to give the driver, Phillips, a sobriety test when he drove off with his passenger, 24-year-old Troy Julius.
Forest Park officers joined the Springdale police as they pursued the fleeing car until it crashed just west of Hanover. According to police, the suspects' car hit some trees, flipped, lost a wheel, and crashed into a parked car before coming to a stop.
Police arrested Julius when he came out of the crashed car.
Phillips, however, allegedly refused to exit the car and instead pointed a weapon at the officers. When he refused to comply with orders to drop the weapon, one of the Springdale officers reportedly fired a shot, hitting the driver's side door.
Police say Phillips eventually dropped the weapon, but still refused to come out of the car. Officers fired several pepper ball rounds toward the car to force him out.
When Phillips did finally come out of the car, he reportedly still refused to listen to police commands, until police eventually Tased him and took him into custody.
Both Phillips and Julius were transported to Mercy South Hospital for minor injuries from the crash, and were then released to police custody.
Police say they recovered two handguns from the car.
The Springdale Police Department says the officers acted within policy during the incident.
