Local businessman Rob Phillips said his poor eyesight and fear of intruders were factors leading to his arrest Sunday for battery on a law enforcement officer.

Phillips, founder of the popular Lawrence Old Fashioned Christmas Parade, is accused of scuffling with a sheriff’s deputy at Phillips’ Victorian home north of Lawrence. The officer had gone to the house after a 911 call from Phillips’ wife, Beverly, asking that police check on her husband’s safety.

“I’m 60 years old, and I have never hit anyone since junior high in a gym class,” Phillips said.

Phillips spoke out Wednesday to give his side of the story. He contends the deputy entered the home unannounced and without permission. Phillips was startled, he said, and saw only a blur because of his failing eyes.

His thoughts, he said, flashed to the notorious murders of the Clutter family in rural Holcomb, a crime documented in Truman Capote’s “In Cold Blood.”

“I saw an intruder,” Phillips said. “I thought maybe I could get away from being murdered like the Clutters were murdered.”

Home alone

The well-known entrepreneur faces a misdemeanor charge of battery on a law enforcement officer. Phillips has also filed a formal complaint against the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office, alleging the deputy violated his constitutional rights and treated him rudely after his arrest.

The scuffle happened late Sunday.

Rob Phillips and his wife, Beverly, walk Wednesday at Victorian Veranda Country Inn north of Lawrence after Rob Phillips' arrest Sunday.

Beverly Phillips was out of town for the night.

“Rob was minding his own business, missing me terribly and feeling totally alone,” she said.

He had been drinking brandy, but he wasn’t severely impaired, he said.

In the past two years, Phillips has struggled with psychological troubles related to the bankruptcy of the Eldridge Hotel — of which he was general manager for 18 years — and the loss of his eyesight and ability to drive because of macular degeneration, an eye malady.

As his eyes have worsened, he’s become more dependent on help from others, especially his wife, he said.

“It has been pretty overwhelming to me,” Phillips said.

Suicide concern

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During a phone conversation with his wife that evening, Phillips said he was going to hurt himself. She called police about 11:30 p.m. and asked that someone go check on him.

“All I wanted to do was help my husband,” she said.

After the 911 call, Phillips said, he called his wife back as he sat at a desk in his first-floor office. They had been on the phone only a few moments. She hadn’t told him help was on the way. And Phillips looked up and saw someone a few feet away from him standing in the doorway.

Phillips maintains he never heard a knock, a doorbell, or a cry of “Police!”

In the past, he and his wife have seen a prowler near the home and have had a stabbing victim collapse on their porch, they said.

Phillips said he shouted “Get out of my house,” shoved the officer, said he was going to get his gun, turned to run away, and fell down. It all happened within a few seconds.

Taken to jail

Phillips said he didn’t really intend to get a gun but hoped to stall the intruder while he ran out the back door. Next thing he knew, he said, he was in handcuffs.

He alleges the deputy, Cpl. Clark Rials, then asked him, “Didn’t you see me?”

Phillips said he told Rials he was legally blind, but the deputy didn’t believe him. He said he told Rials, “I saw a black man in my doorway coming at me.”

Phillips said Rials then questioned whether he was racist. Phillips said that’s absurd given that he has a son who is half black.

He eventually agreed to go with police to the hospital. When he got there, he said, he refused to sign a medical form because past business deals have made him wary of signing something he can’t read.

Only then, he said, did sheriff’s officers decide to take him to jail. He alleges they refused to let him have an attorney despite numerous requests, and he alleges they refused to tell him what he was charged with.

Department’s response

On Tuesday, after Phillips got out of jail on his own recognizance, Phillips and his wife went to the sheriff’s office and filed a formal complaint with Sheriff Ken McGovern, alleging officers aren’t properly trained. They said they also might take complaints to Atty. Gen. Phill Kline and the American Civil Liberties Union for violation of his Fourth Amendment rights to be secure in his home.

“I am very angry,” Phillips said.

Phillips initially was arrested on suspicion of felony aggravated assault on a law enforcement officer but was charged Monday in District Court with a misdemeanor.

Sheriff’s policies prohibit Rials from being interviewed about the case. The sheriff’s side of the story probably won’t come out until it’s aired in court.

“We can’t comment on specifics of a pending case, but we do have confidence in the professional standards of our officers,” said Lt. Kathy Tate, a sheriff’s office spokeswoman.