FOLEY, Minn. - In high school, Philip Miller was a self-described "strapping 5-foot 11-inch, 167-pound middle linebacker" for the Apollo High School Eagles and coach Bruce Melin.
His job these days is the top prosecutor in Benton County.
On Thursday, he turned back the clock and played both roles after a man facing a lengthy prison sentence in a drug case bolted from a Benton County courtroom and ran down a hall toward an exit.
Miller, who had been inside the courtroom during the sentencing and sensed that the defendant was getting a little "amped up" about having to go to prison, slipped outside the courtroom to track down another bailiff - just in case.
Then he saw Dontae Marcus Frazier run out of the courtroom and toward him down the courthouse hallway. A bailiff tried to tackle Frazier, but he got away and continued to run toward the exit.
"He was coming at me and I dropped down and took him out at the knees," said Miller, who has been county attorney since September.
Bailiffs, Foley police and Benton County deputies responded and had to use a Taser more than once to subdue Frazier, according to Chief Deputy Troy Heck. Frazier could face new charges of escape from custody and fourth-degree assault.
Frazier was sentenced to 86 months in prison - more than seven years - for violating his probation on a drug possession conviction.
Miller had his eyeglasses broken during the incident but was otherwise unscathed.
"I had to resort to my old Apollo days," he said of his tackle. "I think Coach Melin would have been proud of me."
