39-year-old Phillip Hirst was charged with two counts of assault after he threatened two women for not paying him $10 to give them a ride across town. In a separate incident five days later, he was charged with theft of property after he was observed driving and parking a vehicle that was reported stolen three days prior.
On March 18th, Officer Matt Wigger responded to a call about a possible assault at the Plaza 231 Inn on North Cumberland. Officers made contact with Rachel Baine and Emily Hawkes, who stated they called Phillip Hirst for a ride across town. They stated Phillip picked them up and they told him they could only pay him $5 for the ride. Phillip said that wasn’t acceptable and he wanted $10. After both women told him they didn’t have $10, Phillip turned around and took them back to the hotel. Rachel then stated that Phillip had a knife and he threatened her and both women said Phillip then threatened to run his car into the building with them inside.
In a separate incident on March 23rd, Officer Grant Cothran was patrolling the Inman Court area near the Lebanon Housing Authority and came across a parked vehicle. When the tags for that vehicle were ran in the system, it came back as being reported stolen out of Overton County on March 20th. While investigating, the officer was able to view security footage of the area where the vehicle was parked. The officer was able to see a male get out of the vehicle and enter Unit #303 on Inman Court.
After making contact with the leaseholder of that unit and confirmed the male in question was inside, he was asked to come to the door. Contact was made with the male, identified as Phillip Hirst, and he admitted to driving the vehicle that had been reported stolen. According to the affidavit, Phillip stated someone gave him the vehicle to drive because his had broken down.
Phillip Hirst was arrested and charged with two counts of assault on March 18th and was later freed on pre-trial release. He was again arrested and charged with theft of property on March 23rd and was released on his own recognizance.
