Man Fatally Shot By Deputies After He Ran Over Detective: Police

PLANT CITY, FL — A man was shot and killed by a Polk County Sheriff's deputy after he was accused of running over a Plant City Police detective Wednesday.

Around 11 a.m., Plant City Police detectives were conducting surveillance on a silver pickup truck carrying a woman passenger who had several felony warrants including one for kidnapping.

Detectives in two unmarked police cars followed the pickup truck into the parking lot of the United Food store at 1506 Sammonds Road and attempted a traffic stop.

According to police, the driver of the pickup truck, later identified as Aaron Phillips, attempted to flee the scene by ramming the unmarked police cars. He then drove toward one of the detectives. Both detectives fired their guns at the truck as it accelerated and ran over the detective in its path.

Phillips along with passenger April Thompson then fled the scene.

According to the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office, who assisted in the case, a few minutes after the detective was run down, deputies were called to a home in the 4000 block of Cooper Road in Plant City where a resident told them a man and a woman in a silver pickup truck knocked on his door, pointed a gun at him when he answered and demanded the keys to his blue Toyota Tacoma pickup truck.

The couple drove the Tacoma into Polk County where they were spotted by Polk Sheriff's deputies inside a black Volkswagen near a trailer park off Bailey Road in Mulberry. When a deputy attempted to take Phillips into custody, he twisted out of the deputy's grasp, jumped into the driver's seat of the Volkswagen and began to back the car up.

According to Polk Sheriff Grady Judd, the deputy struggled with Phillips. Phillips reached toward the floor board of the car as someone shouted, "He's got a gun."

In fear for his life, the deputy shot and killed Phillips, Judd said.

Thompson was also shot in the stomach and leg. She was taken to the hospital where she is expected to recover.

The injured Plant City Police detective was taken to Lakeland Regional Medical Center with serious injuries. He is listed in stable condition in the intensive care unit where he's being treated for internal injuries and multiple fractures. He is a five-year veteran of the Plant City Police Department.

The other Plant City detective involved in the shooting was identified as Gaylyn Russell, a 12-year veteran of the police department.