posted November 11, 2008
Charges were bound over to the Grand Jury on Tuesday against a Grundy County man charged with putting a tracking device on his estranged wife's car at an eye center on Gunbarrel Road.
Eric Boyd was bound over on reckless endangerment and placing an electronic device on a vehicle.
General Sessions Court Judge Bob Moon said it was the first case he had seen in which the law was used. It is a Class C misdemeanor.
He said such devices cannot be placed on someone else's vehicle unless approval is gained from the owner, or if it is part of a police investigation.
The incident Oct. 24 at DiStefano Regional Eye Center and the adjacent Nova Med Eye Surgery resulted in a host of fire and rescue and emergency personnel going to the scene, along with the Chattanooga Police bomb squad.
Phyllis Young said she looked out the rear window and saw a man lurking behind hedges. She said she told a co-worker, "I think we've got a stalker."
She said she then saw him going across the parking lot "kind of slipping, like he was sneaking up."
Ms. Young said he leaned down beside a vehicle, then later raised up, then left "at a slow run."
Phyllis Mann said she also looked out and recognized the man as Eric Boyd. She said she knew that he and Shannon Boyd were going through a divorce. Ms. Boyd works at the eye center and was helping with eye surgery at the time.
Ms. Mann said Boyd "was acting very suspicious and squatting down by her black Honda.
She said she told Ms. Boyd and she became very upset.
Lt. Henry McElvain said the incident caused dozens of officers to be called out, streets were blocked and buildings evacuated.
He said a bomb squad member put on a special suit, then detonated the device, which had been placed near the front fender. It turned out to be a cell phone wrapped in duct tape.
The witness said the phone had earlier been set up with GPS tracking capability.
Ms. Boyd said she did not know that he had added the GPS to her phone. She said he had taken the phone away from her earlier.
Judge Moon said, "I can't think of a worse place to put such a device - near a surgery clinic where operations were actually going on."
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