A Ruston woman is facing charges after allegedly striking a Grambling State University police officer with her vehicle while attempting to flee campus.
GSU Police arrested Phylicia Allen, 25, on April 14 after an incident the previous evening where a campus officer checking out a suspicious vehicle was struck by that vehicle as it fled the campus.
Just before 9:00 p.m. on April 13, a GSU officer approached a Dodge Charger backed into a parking space at Knott Hall. The officer saw smoke coming from the vehicle.
As the officer exited his patrol car, the driver accelerated suddenly, striking him with the front passenger side of the vehicle before fleeing.
Investigation of the incident identified Phylicia Allen as the driver. Ruston Police accompanied GSU officers to a Greenwood Drive residence where Allen and a Dodge Charger were located. Officers detected a strong odor of marijuana coming from the vehicle.
Allen told police damage on the front of her vehicle was already there.
Allen was taken to the GSU Police station where she admitted she had been driving the vehicle parked at Knott Hall. She allegedly told officers she was rolling a gram of marijuana at the time. She said three others were in the car with her.
Allen said she fled because she does not attend GSU but added she did not realize she had struck the officer.
Allen was booked into the Lincoln Parish Detention Center for hit and run driving and aggravated battery of a peace officer. Bail was set at $30,000.
This information has been provided by a law enforcement agency as public information. Persons named or shown in photographs or video as suspects in a criminal investigation, or arrested and charged with a crime, have not been convicted of any criminal offense and are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.
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