PHILADELPHIA -- Shayna Sykes and Blake Bills told officers they were coming off a drug bender the morning they led police on a wild chase from New Jersey through the streets of Philadelphia, according to testimony Monday in a hearing for the Macungie couple.
A judge ruled that the young parents, whose flight from authorities in a pair of stolen police cars captured the region's attention, must face trial on numerous charges. The ruling followed a 11/2-hour hearing in which half a dozen officers and a motorist injured in the March 5 chase testified.
Bills, 24, who allegedly hit a Camden, N.J., police officer after carjacking his cruiser, told the officer who arrested him that he was "dope sick," meaning he was in the throes of withdrawal from heroin, the officer testified.
Sykes, 23, who prosecutors say continued her run from the law in a stolen Philadelphia police car, told the officer who arrested her that she had been awake for three days using drugs, officer John Richner testified.
Several members of Bills' family declined to comment after the hearing in Philadelphia Municipal Court. But his attorney, David Bahuriak, said the carjacking, assault and flight are out of character for Bills, whom Bahuriak described as a nice kid from a good family who developed a bad drug habit.
"I think both of these kids made some pretty shortsighted decisions while suffering from withdrawal," Bahuriak said.
He said Bills was a waiter and a bartender before he got addicted to heroin and described Bills' relationship with Sykes as the cause of his trouble. The couple are engaged and have a 7-month-old daughter.
"These two kind of developed a 'Sid and Nancy' relationship," Bahuriak said, referring to Sid Vicious, the punk rock musician whose drug-fueled and ultimately tragic relationship with his girlfriend, Nancy Spungen, was blamed for the break-up of the band the Sex Pistols.
According to authorities, the couple's bender began days before the chase, when they left their daughter with a relative and drove from Lehigh County in Sykes' grandmother's car, which they later abandoned in South Philadelphia.
Sykes told police she later stole a car that she found idling outside a restaurant, according to a statement released by prosecutors Monday. Inside were cash and an iPod, iPhone and GPS, which she and Bills sold on the street for drug money, she told detectives.
They drove to Camden and abandoned the car when it broke down. Assistant District Attorney Guy D'Andrea told the court that officers found keys to the car in Bills' pocket when he was arrested.
Bills and Sykes woke up sick and cold after sleeping on the sidewalk in Camden the morning of the chase, and according to Sykes' statement, the two discussed quitting drugs. Bills told her, "OK, let's go out with a bang."
Bills told police he wanted to be "warm and mobile," so when he saw a Camden officer making a traffic stop, he jumped in the officer's cruiser, hitting the officer as he sped away.
"I think he ran in front of the car, and I hit him and he rolled across the hood," Bills told detectives, according to his statement. "I didn't want to hurt anyone."
After turning around to pick up Sykes, Bills led police on a chase across the Benjamin Franklin Bridge from New Jersey to Pennsylvania.
During the hearing, Philadelphia police officers described pursuing the couple in the stolen Camden cruiser through red lights and against one-way traffic at speeds up to 60 mph on the streets of North Philadelphia.
The car came to a stop when a tire blew out after Bills hit parked cars, a tree and a building. The pursuing officer and another officer apprehended Bills after a short foot chase.
The pursuing officer saw Sykes get into his police cruiser and drive off. She was captured after nearly hitting a pedestrian and sideswiping another vehicle, when the cruiser began spewing flames and smoke, according to testimony.
Assistant District Attorney Guy D'Andrea questioned Victor Overton, a produce deliveryman who suffered injuries when his box truck was sideswiped by a police cruiser during the chase, and officer Christine Leader, who testified she saw a 55-year-old woman fall and hit her head when Sykes came close to running her down.
Sykes' attorney, Geoff Killroy, elicited an admission from the truck driver that he could not actually see who was behind the wheel of the police car. And Killroy argued after testimony concluded that Sykes did not intend to injure either of the victims.
Sykes and Bills, whose revealing Facebook self-portrait fueled a media obsession, appeared in court apparently wearing the same clothes they had the day they were arrested. Sykes' black hooded sweatshirt and Bills' red T-shirt with the words "leader of the pack" matched officers' descriptions of their attire the morning of the chase.
Judge Frank T. Brady refused to dismiss any of the charges against Bills, but reduced one of Sykes' criminal mischief charges from a felony to a misdemeanor and dismissed another altogether.
Bills is charged in Philadelphia with theft, receiving stolen property, conspiracy, theft from a motor vehicle and unauthorized use of a motor vehicle.
Sykes is charged with aggravated assault, criminal mischief, possession of an instrument of crime, simple assault and reckless endangerment.
Both also face charges of driving under the influence of drugs and a litany of charges in Camden County, N.J., the most serious of which is an attempted murder charge against Bills for allegedly hitting the policeman whose car he stole.
A spokesman for the Camden County prosecutor's office said no arrangements have been made to extradite the couple, although they remain in Philadelphia jails under bail for the New Jersey charges.
Bills and Sykes gained notoriety in their Macungie condominium complex last year after Bills was charged with burglarizing a neighbor's home, some residents of the Ridings at Brookside have said. He admitted stealing $3,500 worth of belongings from the home, according to court records, and is awaiting trial in that case.
Sykes pleaded guilty to drunken driving while underage three times, court papers show. The arrests happened July 2007 in Emmaus, August 2008 in Lower Macungie Township and January 2009 in Macungie. Court records indicate she owes more than $11,000 in court costs and fines in the three cases.
Copyright 2013 - The Morning Call (Allentown, Pa.)
McClatchy-Tribune News Service
