Man accused of peeing on police station, hitting cop with SUV is charged, MO cops say

A man accused of hitting a Missouri officer with an SUV after urinating on the police department is in jail, records show.

Jon Tyler Franklin Routh, 28, was caught peeing on the Springfield Police Department front entrance on Tuesday morning when officers told him to leave, police say. Routh drove away in a white SUV then circled around and drove toward the police department building, police say.

That’s when he hit officer Mark Priebe with the vehicle, crushing him against a bollard outside the station, police say. Another officer ran to the vehicle, ordered Routh to exit the SUV and shot him when he refused, police said.

Routh was in Greene County Jail on a charge of first-degree assault causing serious injury or special victim. Routh and Priebe were hospitalized. The officer was in serious condition, officials said.

As officers took Routh into custody, he told them “You guys knew you had this coming,” according to court records.

He later told investigators he had been in Springfield for about a week after traveling in Austin, Texas; Seattle, Washington; Portland, Oregon and Colorado Springs, Colorado, court records say. Routh said he’s homeless and living in his vehicle.

Surveillance video shows Routh circling the police department in his white Isuzu Trooper and later urinating on the front doors, prosecutors say. Routh said he spent at least 45 minutes driving around the building, yelling out of his windows at police, according to court records.

“The whole campaign is to scare the s--- out of me,” Routh said, accusing the FBI and police of sending people to target him, according to court records.

Routh said he was driving around the police department because he knew they were convincing people to send “the same targeted repeated phrases or same things that were crucial private information that (he) was sending via text messages or messenger real-time,” court records say.

Routh said he spotted an officer walk out of the police department and yell at him to “stop” then saw the officer “go for his gun,” prosecutors say. That’s when Routh said he “blacked out” and then saw another officer run to him and shoot after he wrecked his vehicle, according to court records.

Witnesses say they heard the engine of the SUV accelerate after hitting Priebe, dragging him underneath the vehicle and hitting the barrier head-on.

A search of Routh’s cell phone shows he texted two people just hours before the crash saying “I’m going to run a cop over I think.”

Missouri court records do not show previous charges against Routh.

The Springfield Police Officers’ Association has created a fund to support Priebe and his family.

Priebe sustained multiple rib fractures and a spinal cord injury, police said. He underwent surgery Tuesday night to stabilize his spine.

“We are still trying to wrap our head around why this person did it,” Priebe’s wife, Heather Priebe, said in a statement. “I appreciate all the support. We have a long road ahead of us, but seriously there is nothing we can’t conquer. We accept the diagnosis, whatever it may be, he is alive and that is all that matters.”

This story was originally published June 10, 2020 at 9:36 AM with the headline "Man accused of peeing on police station, hitting cop with SUV is charged, MO cops say."