CARROLL, N.Y. (AP) - A fugitive who once threatened to "splatter pig meat all over Chautauqua County" in upstate New York surrendered without firing a shot, ending a five-month manhunt for a career criminal suspected of shooting three state troopers, one fatally.
With helicopters circling above a field just over the Pennsylvania state line and SWAT teams and U.S. Marshals closing in, a gaunt and exhausted Ralph "Bucky" Phillips threw up his hands. Police ordered him to the ground, handcuffed him and sped him to New York state to face charges of attempted murder.
"The bottom line is the pressure was so great on him," said New York State Police Superintendent Wayne Bennett. "The game was up and he knew it."
Phillips' arrest Friday night capped a frantic day that included troopers firing at him as he hid in the woods along the state line.
 | (AP) A U.S. Marshall carries a brown paper evidence bag with Ralph "Bucky" Phillips belongings past New...
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For hours, police had methodically moved closer to him. 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, a 44-year-old career thief who has spent 20 of the past 23 years in state prison, was taken to a jail in Buffalo and was to be arraigned Saturday morning on a federal charge of unlawful flight to avoid prosecution. He will go to Chemung County later in the day where he will be arraigned on an attempted murder charge in connection with the shooting of a trooper in June.
Police have said he could face other charges including aggravated murder and assault, burglary and larceny.
Phillips, who had also threatened to commit "suicide by cop," was on the FBI's 10 Most Wanted list. 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. He may have stolen 41 guns from a New York gun shop, authorities said.
 | (AP) Fugitive Ralph "Bucky" Phillips, right, is escorted by U.S. Marshals towards the U.S. District...
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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.
Phillips became the subject of a huge search after allegedly shooting a state trooper near Elmira in June. The trooper survived.
 | (AP) Law enforcement officers drive past cheering residents after the capture of Ralph "Bucky" Phillips...
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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 on Sunday; the other, Donald Baker Jr., was in critical condition.
Bennett said Phillips surrender will help comfort the Longobardo family.
"Now this miserable creature will suffer for the rest of his life in the New York state prison system," he said.
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On the Net:
http://www.fbi.gov/wanted/topten/fugitives/fugitives.htm
