Doctors split on suspect’s competency

Kim Smith

Friday, June 8, 2001 | 11:29 a.m.

As his defense attorneys attempt to figure out if murder suspect Vornelius Phillips has any psychiatric problems, more chilling details are emerging about the minutes leading up to the April 21 crash that critically injured a Nevada Highway Patrol trooper.

According to a grand jury transcript of more than 300 pages, Phillips, 25, was acting bizarrely on the morning he allegedly killed a Las Vegas prostitute and left Trooper Bobby Kintzel clinging to life.

Two doctors are split on whether Phillips is competent to stand trial, but should he go to trial and be convicted, prosecutors intend to seek the death penalty for the California parolee.

Authorities believe that after beating and strangling Ivy Shunstrom, 40, in her Budget Suites room, Phillips caught a bus a block away.

Curtis Byrd, a Citizens Area Transit driver, told grand jurors he was sitting in his bus near Convention Center Drive and Channel 8 Drive at about 7:15 a.m. when Phillips banged on his door asking to be let in out of the cold.

Phillips, who was sweating profusely, laid down on the first seat in the bus and offered him $20 to ignore his route and take him to the airport, Byrd said.

A few minutes later, Phillips offered him $50 and asked him to hurry up and leave, Byrd said.

Byrd said he refused and when 7:30 a.m. arrived he began his route. Moments later, he dropped Phillips off at Paradise Road and Convention Way. The last time he saw him, Phillips was waving down a cab.

Izzeldin Abdel Rahman, a cabbie with Whittlesea Cab Co., picked Phillips up.

Rahman said he noticed Phillips running toward him as he was filling out paperwork.

"I noted that somebody came running, opened the door, jumped in the car and laid down on the back seat," Rahman said. "And he was rushing me to take him to the airport because his mother was dying and he was going to New York."

Rahman said he got as far as Paradise Road and Twain Avenue when Phillips told him to take the freeway. When he told Phillips they were only five minutes from McCarran, Phillips showed him $20, said it was $40 and insisted they take the freeway.

Rahman said that after Phillips laid down again, he continued on to the airport, taking Paradise Road.

When he got to the airport, Rahman said he called out to a security guard because of Phillips' actions. The security guard asked Phillips where he wanted to go and Phillips replied "1719 West I-15."

Phillips then tried to pay his $8.80 fare with $5, Rahman said. After getting the correct fare, Rahman said he started to write up his paperwork when he suddenly saw a man laying in the middle of the street.

Within seconds, Rahman said people were telling him that the man he had just been arguing with had stolen a Yellow Cab with a passenger still in the back seat.

Mark Cummings told grand jurors he was in the process of removing luggage from his trunk when Phillips walked past him and opened up his door. He immediately yelled at him to get away from the cab.

"He jumped in the cab, slammed the door," Cummings said. "As I tried to grab the door, he locked it with his elbow."

Cummings said when he jumped in front of the cab and put his hands on the hood, Phillips gunned the engine, struck his hip and knocked him down.

One of his passengers, Maryland resident Joan Lewis, 59, was still in the back seat of the cab.

"I opened the door to try to get out and with the impact of him taking off so fast, you know, the door shut and I couldn't get out," Lewis told grand jurors.

Lewis said when Phillips twice refused her request to let her out, she decided to jump out. She ended up with a crushed leg, two punctured lungs, broken ribs and a broken collarbone.

Charlotte Zachow, a Henderson resident, was on her way to work at around 7:45 a.m. that day when she saw a Yellow Cab speed ahead of her and drive up an embankment near Interstate 215 and the airport.

About four miles later, near Windmill Lane and I-215, Zachow said she pulled over when she saw an NHP trooper with his lights and siren on coming up behind her.

She then saw the driver of the cab running away from the cab, which had smoke and fluids coming from underneath the front portion.

The man she later identified as Phillips came up to her passenger window, which was down three-quarters of the way, Zachow said.

"He said, 'Help me, my cab...' he started to mumble and I could not understand what he said," Zachow said. "At that time I told him, 'The highway patrol is right there. He'll help you.' He said 'No, he cannot help me.' And I knew something was wrong at that point."

Zachow said when she stomped on her accelerator, Phillips stuck his hand through the window and unlocked the door. As her Chevrolet Tahoe reached 50 mph, Zachow said Phillips tried to climb in, one hand on her door handle and the other on her passenger seat.

"At that point he is dragging on the freeway," Zachow said. "I was in shock. He had no expression on his face. And so I continued to drive and I'm thinking 'At any second the highway patrolman is going to see what's happening. He will pull in front of my truck. It's going to be done or he'll fall.' And at this time I look over and I see that he's pulling himself into my truck while I'm still going."

Once inside the truck, Zachow said Phillips swore at her and told her to keep driving.

When she said no, Zachow said Phillips tried to climb over her console into her seat. She slammed on the brakes and Phillips caught himself on her dashboard. On his second attempt, Phillips managed to climb into her seat with her.

Over the next few seconds, the two fought for control of the vehicle. Phillips had his foot on the accelerator and she had both her feet on the brake. At the same time, Zachow said she was trying to unlock her door and get her skirt out from underneath Phillips so she could jump out.

"As I was going to turn to get out, he pushed me out and told me, "Get out bitch" and he sped off after that," Zachow said.

The vehicle was only going about 5 mph at that point, she said.

As she ran down the freeway to get the trooper, Zachow said she saw one of Phillips' shoes on the freeway, covered in blood that was later found to be Shunstrom's.

The next time she saw her Tahoe, it was at Flamingo Road and Interstate 95 and it was totaled.

Zachow said she was terrified by the look on Phillips' face during their struggle.

"The expression on his face was just -- it was -- I mean there was no remorse on his face. It was the scariest look in someone's face that you could possibly -- I never seen something like it. It was just really like nothing was there," Zachow said.

Over the next several minutes, officers from all over the county gave chase to Zachow's Tahoe. Phillips took them through Henderson and Boulder City and back up through Las Vegas at speeds up to 115 mph.

Officers told grand jurors that on a least three occasions, it appeared as though Phillips purposely sideswiped both civilian and police cars in the hopes of getting the police to give up chase.

And, at one point, National Park Service Park Ranger Brian Cooperider testified Phillips swerved right at him as he was laying down spikes to disable the Tahoe on Lake Shore Road near Lake Mead.

Phillips hit his vehicle, Cooperider said, and he thought he would either get hit by Phillips or his own vehicle.

When he tried to give chase afterward, Cooperider realized his car had been disabled.

Eventually, Phillips made his way to northbound Interstate 95, forcing officers to block off all the exits and narrow his travel lanes down to one, using their vehicles as obstacles near Flamingo Road.

But, instead of keeping to that one lane, the fast lane, officers testified Phillips purposely went into the middle lane, driving straight toward Kintzel, who had also been trying to lay down some spikes.

Metro Police Officer Timothy Gross said he saw Kintzel, 30, being flipped in the air and Phillips strike one of the NHP patrol cars being used to block the lanes.

Phillips' brake lights never came on and he kept on going despite a flat tire, Gross said.

Gross said that when he saw a civilian car coming onto the freeway from Flamingo and Phillips veer toward it, he rammed the Tahoe.

Both he and Phillips came to a stop and he saw Phillips coming toward him on foot, Gross said.

Over the next few seconds, Gross said he got into a "little bit of a panic" while trying to draw his weapon and get out of his seatbelt.

"I was going to shoot him through the ... my patrol car," Gross said. "I couldn't get my gun out. I looked over. I have a bag that had my backup weapon. It was on the floorboard and definitely out of my reach."

Finally, Gross said, he was able to get out of his seatbelt, draw his gun and get out of his car.

All around him, other officers had their guns drawn and pointed at Phillips.

Gross said that as he ran at Phillips, Phillips sat on his butt and then laid down, covering his face and chest with his arms.

Gross said he ended up sitting on Phillips as he tried to handcuff him.

"I remember somebody grabbing me off of him and they were telling me it was OK and I knew it wasn't OK," Gross said.

He then ran back to check on Kintzel.

Kintzel, who sustained major head injuries that required brain surgery, remains in University Medical Center Hospital, his prognosis unknown and his condition critical.

Metro Police Officer Won J. Cho told grand jurors Phillips never uttered a word on the way to UMC's Trauma Center, where he was found to be uninjured.

A blood test showed Phillips had PCP, cocaine and methamphetamine in his system, Cho said.

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