A pregnant woman was injured after being thrown from a moving vehicle on Katherine Street, police say.
JEANERETTE, La. — Police arrested two New Iberia men after accusing them in a case in which a pregnant woman was kidnapped and thrown from a moving vehicle on Katherine Street on May 26.
The criminal accusations are notable for their range. Brett Michael Phillips, 34, faces charges tied to domestic abuse, kidnapping, attempted feticide, reckless driving and licensing. Chris Adam Phillips, 36, faces principal counts tied to the same alleged kidnapping, feticide and domestic abuse offenses, along with failure to seek assistance and simple assault. Police said the woman was dating one of the suspects.
Brett Phillips was charged with domestic abuse battery of a pregnant victim, second-degree kidnapping, attempted first-degree feticide, reckless operation of a motor vehicle and driving without a license. Those charges place him at the center of the police allegation that the victim was forcibly taken and then thrown from the vehicle. Police have not said which person was behind the wheel, how the woman came to be in the vehicle or what evidence led investigators to each charge.
Chris Phillips was charged as a principal to second-degree kidnapping, principal to attempted first-degree feticide and principal to domestic abuse battery of a pregnant victim. He also was charged with failure to seek assistance and simple assault. In Louisiana criminal cases, a principal accusation generally means police believe a person helped commit an offense or was otherwise legally responsible for it. The police announcement did not describe the specific acts Chris Phillips is accused of taking before, during or after the woman was thrown from the vehicle.
The police response began when Jeanerette officers received calls at about 6:26 p.m. from residents in the Katherine Street area. Police said callers reported that a female victim had been thrown from a moving vehicle. Officers found the woman with nearby residents who were helping her. The victim gave investigators information about the people involved, police said. She was taken to a local hospital for injuries and evaluation, and officers said they learned during the initial investigation that she was pregnant.
The attempted first-degree feticide accusations add a separate legal layer from the injury allegation involving the woman. Louisiana law treats feticide as an offense involving the killing of an unborn child, and first-degree feticide includes circumstances tied to specific intent or certain serious felonies. The charges in the Jeanerette case are attempted counts, and police have not released medical findings about the pregnancy. They also have not stated whether prosecutors have accepted each charge exactly as booked.
The second-degree kidnapping allegations point to police claims that the woman was taken or held under circumstances that fit a felony kidnapping offense. Louisiana law describes kidnapping in part as forcibly seizing and carrying a person from one place to another or imprisoning a person. Second-degree kidnapping includes situations where a victim is physically injured or where the act is connected to another felony. Police have not said where the alleged seizure began, whether the woman tried to get out before Katherine Street or how far the vehicle traveled. The domestic abuse battery count depends on the relationship police described in the case. The department said the woman and one suspect were involved in a dating relationship. Public reports did not identify which suspect was her dating partner. Police also did not release any prior incident reports, protective orders or earlier calls involving the victim or either suspect. With that information absent, the public record is limited to the May 26 incident and the charges police said followed it.
The location of the suspects also matters in the procedural record. Police identified both men as New Iberia residents. After the Katherine Street call, officers said concerned citizens and investigative evidence helped them identify and locate the two men. The department did not say how much time passed between the first call and the arrests. It also did not say whether the men were arrested together, whether the vehicle was recovered or whether any items were seized as evidence.
Both suspects were booked first into the Juandre Gilliam Law Enforcement Center and later transported to the Iberia Parish Jail. The initial reports did not list scheduled court appearances. In many felony cases, the next public steps can include bond proceedings, a prosecutor’s review, formal charging documents and later hearings. In this case, officials had not released a court calendar or a detailed probable cause account in the first wave of public reports.
The woman’s condition remains one of the main unknowns. Police said she was injured and evaluated at a hospital, but they did not list injuries, describe treatment or release an update on the pregnancy. Officials also did not release her name, a common step in cases involving alleged domestic violence and pregnancy-related harm. The lack of medical detail leaves the charges as the clearest sign of how seriously investigators viewed the reported conduct.
The case now moves from police allegations toward court review. As of the latest public reports, Brett Phillips and Chris Phillips had been arrested, the woman had been taken for medical evaluation, and no hearing date had been publicly announced.
Author note: Last updated June 23, 2026.