Man who escaped interview room at GPD in March arrested at homeless encampment
Staff report
GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Darius Dequion Phillips, 32, who allegedly escaped from an interview room at Gainesville Police Department (GPD) Headquarters in March, was arrested yesterday after an anonymous caller reported that he was in a tent on SE 4th Place.
On March 7, a GPD Officer was investigating a car burglary in which AirPods Max were stolen. The victim was reportedly tracking the AirPods and providing updates to the officer. When the officer arrived at the location where the AirPods were pinging, he reportedly saw Phillips wearing the AirPods. Phillips was also reportedly wearing clothes matching the description in another vehicle burglary. Phillips was detained, and the AirPods were confirmed to be the stolen items.
Phillips was transported to the GPD station for an interview; a search reportedly produced two baggies containing 4.3 grams of “molly.” Post Miranda, Phillips reportedly admitted the substance was “molly” and that it was his. He denied any involvement with the car burglaries and said another homeless person gave him the AirPods.
Phillips was reportedly informed that he was under arrest for possession of a controlled substance and left in an interview room that has an automatic lock. About 30 seconds later, the lock malfunctioned and unlocked, and about 10 minutes later, Phillips allegedly opened the door, walked out of the interview room, and left the station.
At about 1:09 p.m. yesterday, an anonymous caller said that Phillips was sitting in a tent on SE 4th Place. At 1:19 p.m., an officer saw Phillips sitting with an unknown female; when Phillips saw the officer, he stood up. The officer told him to remove his backpack and place his hands on top of his head; while removing the backpack, Phillips allegedly fled the tent area and jumped over a six-foot fence. When he saw officers on the other side of the fence, he reportedly tried to jump back over the fence but was tased as he was running away. Phillips allegedly resisted being handcuffed, tensing his arms.
Post Miranda, Phillips reportedly said he made a mistake by running.
Phillips has been charged with possession of a controlled substance, escape, and resisting an officer without violence. He has six felony convictions (one violent) and three misdemeanor convictions (one violent). He has served six state prison sentences, with his most recent release in January 2024. Judge Thomas Jaworski set bail at $127,000.
Articles about arrests are based on reports from law enforcement agencies. The charges listed are taken from the arrest report and/or court records and are only accusations. All suspects are innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.
So, his lawyer still got a paycheck then?
Well it appears the encampment on SE 4th PL isn’t just for homeless; it’s also a hideout for criminals. If they could put a fence up around that area there’d be no reason to build another jail, the peeps are apparently happy because they won’t leave, the City hasn’t done much to encourage them to leave. The inhabitants would already be in a place to protect the public and the only danger would be to themselves. Gainesville would have the trash and waste in a central location.
Maybe our idiot Mayor and his followers should refocus.
😝
🛑 Escaped from GPD, keystone cop’s 🛑
Not a genius but the homeless encampment needs to b vetted regularly
Vetted ?
It’s not just tents. It’s a bunch of people standing around everywhere, many looking like they belong in a third-world country, some with pit-looking dogs. It’s a de facto takeover of the street since any normal person with common sense would not want to go through there even in a car. I would worry about some terrorists hiding out there, planning to damage the infrastructure of GRU at some later date. Get it together, Harvey and co. You are literally killing the city.
City Commission is destroying GRU all by themselves.
Pit looking dogs??? Are people not allowed to own a pitbull without being judged 🤔
No, they are banned in almost all countries of the civilized world, and they should probably be banned here, too. Sorry if you can’t handle reality.
It’s just one more thing that makes that stretch of road go from “Lock the doors and roll up the windows” to “Let’s just go around the block and go the other way.” Any normal mayor, police chief, city manager, etc. would get off their butt and do something about it, especially since it’s affecting downtown businesses in a major way.
You need to do some research, because evening you said was inaccurate
love the comment,
( pits aren’t killers )
Another prison release success story. Is there a contest going on with the felons on who get out and goes by to prison the fastest?
So, they shut down Dignity Village because of the amount of crime, and let another gathering “pop up” by Grace Marketplace.
The city needs to do something about the vagrants. There should be no bums setting up encampments around the city. There should be no panhandling…There should be no on-street camping inside vehicles in our neighborhoods either.
Gather up all the vagrants, bring them to Grace, and put them to work cleaning up litter and fast food trash on our streets. Why is the city commission crapping up Gville?
Seeing as how they’re full of it up to their eyeballs, they think the rest of us should have to walk through it.
gpd is a joke