Stashia Piphus
An investigation by special agents with the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation has resulted in a Knoxville woman being charged with the attempted murder of a Ripley police officer.
At the request of 25th District Attorney General Mike Dunavant, TBI special agents responded to an incident on Nelson Street in Ripley around 5 p.m. on Tuesday.
Officers with the Ripley Police Department had developed information about the possible whereabouts of Sequna Copeland, who was a fugitive on the TBI’s Top Ten Most Wanted list, and executed a traffic stop of a vehicle.
During the course of the investigation, agents learned that the female driver, Stashia Piphus, drove off from the officer who was making the stop. The officer gave chase on foot. Ms. Piphus began driving in reverse toward the officer, who fired several shots at the occupants of the vehicle before being struck by the suspect’s car. The investigation showed that when two other Ripley police officers arrived at the scene, Ms. Piphus began to drive forward toward them.
Those two officers in front the vehicle fired shots at the occupants, striking them both. Ms. Piphus and the male occupant of the car, Sequna Copeland, were both transported to hospitals. Copeland has since been released from the hospital and is in federal custody.
The officer who was struck by the vehicle was flown to Memphis for medical treatment, where he remains hospitalized.
On Wednesday morning, Stashia Piphus, 26, was released from the hospital and booked into the Lauderdale County Jail on one count of attempted first-degree murder.
Ms. Piphus is scheduled to be arraigned Thursday, at which time her bond will be set.