The Motorcycle Bandit
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| Elliott Phillips Jr. |
As Paul and the woman approach the counter, the man pulls out a handgun and demands cash from the tellers. He holds the gun close to Paul's face, so close that Paul can read its serial number. The man stuffs the money in his jacket as quickly as the tellers can hand it over. With a total of $2,700, he says, "I've got enough money for today," and leaves out the front door. He gets on a black, late-model Yamaha and flees northbound on College Highway.
The Southwick Police Department quickly arrives at the crime scene. They question witnesses and put out an area-wide alert, describing the robber as an athletically built white male with a mustache, about six feet tall, and weighing about 190 pounds.
Meanwhile, the armed robber had crossed into neighboring Westfield and abandoned the motorcycle at a home on East Silver Street, where local police later found it and issued a flash bulletin.
Now in possession of the motorcycle's registration, it did not take long for police to identify their suspect. It was someone police departments throughout Massachusetts knew quite well.
Although he did not name him, Southwick Police Chief Charles Wolfe told news outlets on Friday that he obtained a warrant from Westfield District Court for the arrest of a former Westfield resident wanted in connection with the robbery. Then he dropped a bombshell, saying their suspect was a Massachusetts state prison parolee who served time following a manslaughter conviction in 1973.
Their suspect, Elliott F. Phillips Jr., was charged with the murder of James W. Lee of Westfield in
February 1973. While awaiting trial in Hampden County Jail, Phillips and four other inmates overpowered two guards, stabbing one in the process. Phillips, in possession of a knife from the prison's kitchen, held it to a guard's throat and demanded he turn over his keys to the gun cabinet and exit doors. When the guard refused, Phillips struck him and took a key to the jail's front door through which they escaped. Guards quickly chased after them. The escapees crossed the railroad tracks behind the prison and ended up on the bank of the Connecticut River; two of them jumped into the water but had second thoughts and gave themselves up when a guard pulled a gun.
Authorities initially charged Phillips with first-degree murder after two girls on their way to school found Lee's badly beaten body near a swimming pool in a Westfield park. In a plea deal, Phillips pleaded guilty to the lesser charge of manslaughter. A Hampden County Superior Court judge sentenced him to a maximum of 27 years in state prison for the killing of Lee, which took place on December 6, 1972 (reportedly connected to drug use), and for the 1973 April Fools' Day prison escape - which he also pleaded guilty to. (Phillips also pleaded guilty to various counts of assault and battery surrounding the attack on the badly injured prison guard.)
Phillips had a long list of run-ins with the law dating back to 1970 when police arrested him for speeding, driving without a license, and not stopping for an officer. In 1971, police charged him with minor in possession and drunkenness. Shortly after that, police arrested him and another man on charges of larceny over $100 and breaking and entering in the daytime. The men eventually admitted guilt, and a judge sentenced them to three months in the House of Corrections - suspended for one year with probation. The following month, Phillips was arrested and charged with drunk driving, drunkenness, operating a motor vehicle without an operator's license, and dangerous driving. A Westfield District Court judge fined him $75 for drunk driving and $25 for dangerous driving.
In 1972, before he beat Lee to death, Phillips was arrested for narcotics possession.
Following his armed robbery of the Woronoco Savings Bank in Grist Mill Plaza, Phillips fled to Colorado. Police there arrested him on August 7, 1989, in connection with the holdup of a convenience store in the town of Lakewood. Lakewood police said Phillips stole a car and held up the convenience store around 11:00 p.m. Colorado time. A Lakewood police officer saw Phillips exit the store and jump into the stolen vehicle. A mile-long chase ensued before Phillips gave himself up. (Police rammed the car, disabling it. As Phillips ran on foot, he pulled a loaded revolver from his waistband. Additional officers showed up, startling Phillips who dropped the gun.)
Authorities in the Centennial State wanted him to stand trial for the store robbery, so they diverted rendition attempts by the Hampden County District Attorney's office. (It is unclear if Phillips was ever extradited to Massachusetts.)
Before the Southwick bank heist, a police officer in Middlefield, Massachusetts, arrested Phillips on a drunk driving warrant. (Middlefield's volunteer police department lacked a cruiser at the time, so the officers were using their own personal vehicles, which was not only dangerous as they had no radio contact with other officers, but it opened them to liability, so the practice was stopped - leaving Middlefield without police protection for some time.)
*Phillips moved around quite a bit; his family was originally from Southwick. He eventually landed in Vermont. He passed away in 2022. The East Silver Street home where he abandoned the motorcycle is believed have been his ex-girlfriends.
Special thanks to Paul Jensen for speaking with the author and reliving that frightening day.
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