Baggy pants a factor in Bibb man’s gun clash with feds

Bobby Leon Parrish was prepared to do something no one in the history of the American criminal justice system probably ever has: Introduce his sagging blue jeans as defense exhibits in federal court.

But instead of going to trial, he pleaded guilty earlier this week to snatching a loaded sawed-off shotgun from those very jeans and aiming it at two deputy U.S. marshals as they closed in on him in north Macon last summer.

Parrish, who is from Lizella, had at the time been wanted for, among other charges, not reporting to his probation officer after a Bibb County methamphetamine conviction in January 2015.

On Aug. 24, the marshals and Bibb sheriff’s deputies tracked Parrish to a $34-a-night motel called the Palm Tree Extended Stay. The place overlooks Interstate 75, a block or so up Riverside Drive from Pierce Avenue.

Parrish’s arrest that day didn’t make the news because details of the life-or-death seconds that preceded it were not fully known.

The most revealing part — yes, the part about his droopy pants — did not emerge until Wednesday when Parrish pleaded guilty to assaulting a federal agent with a gun.

In announcing the plea, the U.S. Attorney’s office in Macon in a news release included the sentence: “Mr. Parrish stated that he brandished the gun because it was falling down his pants and he wanted to catch it.”

Court documents tell the rest, how the 25-year-old Parrish was walking in the motel parking lot when the police first spotted him.

He saw them too and went the other way, but two marshals caught up.

“Parrish proceeded to pull a weapon from his waistband as he was backing away from the officers,” another agent’s write-up of the episode noted. “Parrish was able to clear the shotgun from his waistband and was raising the shotgun in the direction of (the marshals).”

As Parrish pointed the gun at them, one of the marshals told Parrish, “Don’t do it.”

The command apparently made Parrish think twice. The hesitation gave the other deputy marshal enough time to fire his Taser and make Parrish let go of the .410 shotgun.

The gun’s stock and foot-long barrel were wrapped in black tape. The weapon was maybe 20 inches long in all, stripped down to be fired one-handed like a pistol.

The federal case against Parrish included files labeled Defense Exhibits 1 and 2. The exhibits are photographs of a shackled Parrish, from the front and rear, wearing baggy jeans sagging low to reveal a pair of gym shorts underneath and a stomach tattoo.

When the cops searched Parrish, they found a small container of marijuana, a pair of digital weighing scales and a crushed substance that Parrish said was the drug Xanax.

He will be sentenced in July and faces at least five years in prison and up to $500,000 in fines.

The U.S. Attorney’s news release didn’t mention anything Parrish might have said when he pleaded guilty.

It did, however, note that after Parrish dropped his gun the day he was apprehended, he thanked the federal agents.

“For not shooting him,” the news release said.

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This story was originally published April 21, 2016 at 5:40 PM with the headline "Baggy pants a factor in Bibb man’s gun clash with feds."