CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. — A Tennessee man is accused of slamming into another vehicle while attempting to elude authorities, and then throwing powdered fentanyl into the faces of two officers after his arrest, police said.
Rodney Bates, 31, of Chattanooga, faces 14 charges, according to Hamilton County Sheriff’s Office online booking records.
Booking records show that Bates was arrested on Friday and charged with two counts of attempted first-degree murder, three counts of possession of drugs for resale, and one count each of reckless endangerment, evading arrest, resisting arrest, theft of property, possession of drug paraphernalia, driving on a suspended license, failure to maintain lane, a seat belt violation and a tinted windows violation.
According to an arrest affidavit, two Chattanooga Housing Authority officers attempted to stop a black Jeep Cherokee for a window tint violation, WZTV reported.
According to one of the officers, Bates, after speaking briefly to them, hit the accelerator on his vehicle and hit a gray SUV while attempting to flee, according to the television station. Both vehicles were totaled, police said.
Officers apprehended Bates, who had cash and a white powder that was believed to be fentanyl, Chattanoogan.com reported. Officers searching the Jeep found a black backpack containing multiple baggies of what appeared to be blue fentanyl pills, along with white powder, marijuana and a digital scale, according to the news outlet.
One officer put Bates in the rear of his patrol vehicle.
According to the affidavit, Bates was observed “throwing money to females nearby” and possible narcotics.
One officer said he noticed that his patrol vehicle began to rock and discovered Bates with “his hands towards the front of his person and hunched over” in the back seat, WZTV reported.
The officer said that Bates had climbed over three rows of back seats and grabbed the evidence in the vehicle’s trunk, according to the television station.
“I then made contact with Rodney where he then took crushed fentanyl in large baggies and threw them at my face” and the face of another officer, the officer said, according to the affidavit. That left both officers “completely covered in powdered fentanyl.”
“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,” one officer said, according to Chattanoogan.com.