BUFFALO, N.Y. – A former fugitive suspected of fatally shooting a state trooper and wounding two others made his first court appearance Saturday, hours after surrendering in a field over the Pennsylvania state line following a five-month manhunt.
Ralph “Bucky” Phillips, who once threatened to “splatter pig meat all over Chautauqua County” in upstate New York, appeared in U.S. District Court where a judge agreed to turn him over to state police to face a charge of attempted murder of a state trooper in Chemung County.
During the four-minute hearing, the exhausted and unshaven suspect answered “yes” when asked if he was Ralph Phillips and if had received a copy of the federal complaint charging him with unlawful flight to avoid prosecution.
Wearing an orange prison jumpsuit, he stood with his hands folded in front of him as the judge spoke. After the appearance, U.S. Marshals placed a chain around his waist, handcuffed him and led him out of court.
Phillips, a 44-year-old career thief who has spent 20 of the past 23 years in state prison, surrendered Friday night without firing a shot. The arrest capped a manhunt that grew to be the state’s largest, after a frantic day that included troopers firing at Phillips as he hid in woods.
Federal prosecutor Terrance Flynn said the timetable for a hearing in Chemung County would be up to state and local officials. He did not know when Phillips would be transferred to the county near the Pennsylvania line.
Officials also expect to charge Phillips in the shootings, one fatal, of two troopers in Chautauqua County on Aug. 31. Police have said he could also be charged with burglary and larceny for allegedly stealing more than a dozen vehicles and breaking into numerous cabins and a gun store while on the run.
Phillips, who had also threatened to commit “suicide by cop,” had been placed on the FBI’s 10 Most Wanted list Thursday. The threat to “splatter pig meat” was in a note he left behind for officers when he left the Chautauqua County Jail several years ago.
Since his escape, he twisted and turned his way throughout southwestern New York and northwestern Pennsylvania, stealing cars, burglarizing homes and camps and relying on acquaintances to stay free, police said.
Friday’s search started shortly before 2 a.m. in Pennsylvania when a police officer tried to pull over a car police said Phillips had stolen. After a short chase, the car crashed and Phillips bolted into the woods.
A half-hour later, Phillips stole a second car and drove back into New York, where troopers began a second chase, authorities said.
Phillips jumped out of the moving car and ducked into woods, zigzagging back and forth between New York and Pennsylvania, authorities said. Police dogs tracked his scent for several hours until he was spotted by two troopers, Bennett said.
As troopers approached, Phillips wheeled around with a pistol in his hand but did not fire, police said. One of the troopers fired an undisclosed number of shots as Phillips disappeared into the thick woods.
Just before nightfall, 25 SWAT officers and 12 dogs swept through a field where he was thought to be hiding. He gave himself up around 8 p.m., police said.
Phillips became the subject of a huge search after allegedly shooting a state trooper near Elmira in June. The trooper survived.
Then, authorities said, he ambushed and shot two New York state troopers on Aug. 31 as they staked out the home of Phillips’ former girlfriend. One trooper, Joseph Longobardo, died last Sunday; the other, Donald Baker Jr., was in critical condition.
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