Mobile County Sheriff’s deputies capped off weeks of investigative work with an arrest late Thursday, July 30, 2015, after a vehicle chase through the Eight Mile community ended with a suspect being tracked down by a K-9 unit.
Investigators had been building a case against 23-year-old Richard Jacob Phillips, who went by the nickname “Lil Ricky” and was wanted in connection with a string of robberies reported in both Mobile County and across the state line in George County, Mississippi. According to a sheriff’s office spokesman, deputies finally caught sight of Phillips riding in a vehicle with at least two other occupants along Alabama State Route 158 around 7 p.m.
Deputies moved to stop the vehicle, but the driver refused to pull over, touching off a pursuit that wound through Eight Mile. At one point during the chase, the fleeing vehicle struck a patrol car head-on. The deputy inside was not hurt, though the sheriff’s office said the patrol vehicle sustained significant damage.
The chase eventually reached Kushla McLeod Road, where Phillips abandoned the vehicle on foot and ran into a wooded area near Rosemary Woods Drive. A K-9 unit was deployed to track him down, and Phillips was bitten by the dog before deputies took him into custody.
By roughly 3:15 a.m. Friday, Phillips had been booked into Mobile County Metro Jail on multiple charges, including first-degree robbery, first-degree possession of a forged instrument, second-degree theft, resisting arrest and attempting to elude police. Mississippi authorities indicated they intended to pursue an additional robbery charge against him in George County once the Alabama case concluded.
One other occupant of the vehicle was taken into custody at the scene of the chase. Investigators said they believed a third person had also been in the vehicle, though it remained unclear Friday morning whether that individual had been located or arrested.
The Eight Mile community, an unincorporated area north of Mobile along U.S. 45, has seen periodic bursts of property and violent crime over the years, and residents there have long pushed county law enforcement for a stronger patrol presence. Sheriff’s officials said Friday that more details about the arrest and the underlying robbery investigations would be released as the case developed.
The arrest illustrates the kind of sustained, multi-week groundwork that often precedes a single dramatic night of law enforcement action, with deputies piecing together tips and evidence before finally moving on a suspect they believe is responsible for a pattern of crimes stretching across two states.