In Short – Volume 1, Issue 1 (Spring 2024)
May 31, 2024
Owego, New York
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State Police arrest armed [husband, stepfather of three] for several felony charges after pursuit in Owego
By Jennifer Rodriguez
Taken from The Owego Pennysaver
“On Oct. 26, 2015, at about 5:31 p.m., New York State Police in Owego were attempting to locate a 2001 Dodge Dakota pickup truck that was being operated by [Phil, married to my mother, and stepfather to me, my little sister and brother] who had made threats to do harm to himself and others, and was armed with a rifle.”
Bleary-eyed, blinking at the sun streaming through my dorm room window, barely awake, I answered the phone. Hello? I don’t normally get phone calls from Phil. Is everything okay?
“Troopers observed the vehicle and attempted a traffic stop in the Village of Owego. After failing to comply, [Phil, who I considered one of the better of my mother’s relationships] continued driving and eventually entered Pennsylvania where the Pennsylvania State Police were advised.”
Did he call you? My mother asks over the phone later as I walk back from class. A few days ago, he talked about you, I said, staring at the cold cement of the sidewalk. Okay, okay. Her voice shakes. I don’t think much about it, this isn’t the first time she’s cried about her husband. She won’t tell me why Phil called or what happened until after he’s sitting in state prison and sending gifts made out of cardboard to my sister and brother.
“[Phil, who my siblings adored] was later observed driving on Pennsylvania Avenue at approximately 7:36 p.m., and again refused to stop for officers.”
I don’t remember if health class taught us to identify signs of abuse. If they did, I wish I remembered. Maybe then I would have said something about the hair-trigger temper, the isolation, the random mood swings.
“The pursuit terminated on State Route 434 in the Town of Owego. [Phil, who spoiled my siblings with whatever farm animal they wanted] was arrested after a brief struggle and after he threatened and menaced, approaching police officers with a rifle.”
He was on the phone with me, my mother recalls. He thought I was in the passenger seat, and then we were talking through the sun visor, she laughs, tinged with hysteria, he was on a lot of drugs. I laugh, thinking and thinking, he did drugs? And she knew?
“[Phil, who I thought was “cool”] was charged with the class D felonies of criminal possession of a weapon 3rd, menacing a police officer, assault 2nd the misdemeanors of fleeing a police officer in a motor vehicle 3rd, reckless endangerment 2nd, criminal possession of a weapon 4th, reckless endangerment 2nd, aggravated harassment 2nd and numerous traffic violations.”
He tried to burn the house down, she pauses, he thought the kids and I were in it and tried to burn the house down. Then he went on that high-speed chase with the gun and I thought he was going to kill us, kill himself.
“Phillip P. Williams was arraigned in the Town of Owego court and remanded to the Tioga County jail with no bail set.”
I sit in silence. There’s nothing else to say.
Jennifer Rodriguez (she/her) is a queer writer and former reporter from southern tier New York. She’s currently a managing editor living in Pittsburgh. She has an MA in History from ASU, and her work has appeared in Blue Earth Review and elsewhere.