Rodney Bates
A man who a short time earlier had slammed into another vehicle while trying to get away from police afterward threw crushed fentanyl onto two officers' faces.
An officer who arrested 31-year-old Rodney Bates said, "It is my belief that Rodney in that moment was willing to take my life and the other officer's life to evade prosecution and get rid of any criminal evidence."
The officer, noting that Bates threw deadly small blue fentanyl pills out of the patrol car window, said a small child might have picked up one of the pills thinking it was candy thereby "coming into contact with the deadly narcotic that Rodney had now exposed everyone to."
Bates was charged with two counts of attempted murder of police, reckless endangerment, felony evading arrest, resisting arrest, theft of property (auto), and drug and traffic offenses.
The incident on Friday afternoon began when police stopped Bates in a black Jeep Cherokee, knowing he did not have a valid driver's license and the windows were tinted.
He sped off at 38th and Hughes in Alton Park and slammed into another vehicle, totaling both cars. The other car was knocked into a light pole. The Jeep Bates was driving had been stolen out of East Ridge.
Bates, of 2615 Ortin St., fled nearby, but was apprehended. He had on him cash along with a white powder believed to be fentanyl.
Officers searching the Jeep found a black backpack that had multiple baggies of blue fentanyl pills and white powder also believed to be fentanyl. There was also a digital scale and some marijuana.
After Bates was placed in the back of a patrol vehicle, he began throwing money and possible narcotics to nearby females. An officer then rolled up the windows.
A short time later it was learned that Bates had climbed over three rows of back seats and gotten to the evidence in a bag at the front. He was rocking the car while crushing fentanyl pills with his feet. It was that crushed fentanyl that he threw at the officers.