Rangeway police investigation: Jarod Leigh Phillips’ condition improves following mystery incident

The 22-year-old man who was found unresponsive on a Rangeway street yesterday morning is awake and his condition has improved as as police work to trace his movements.

Jarod Leigh Phillips of Spalding was discovered around 7am on Tuesday by an early-morning dog walker with head and leg injuries near the intersection of Cypress Street and Eastward Road.

He was rushed to Geraldton Hospital by paramedics who noted he appeared to be suffering from a seizure and later flown in an induced coma to Royal Perth Hospital for specialist care.

Acting Inspector Bruce McDonald said the investigation to work out what happened to Mr Phillips was ongoing with a number of “investigative actions to complete”.

“Mr Phillips is awake and fine in Perth and it would appear he has no serious injuries,” he said. “Unfortunately he doesn’t have any recollection of the incident.”

Local police are continuing to investigate the circumstances which led to the young man’s life-threatening condition.

Yesterday, acting Inspector McDonald said investigators were working to determine how long Mr Phillips had been lying in that location before he was found.

“There is about a 12 hour period where we’d like to track down where he’s been and who he’s been with,” he said.

“Because we haven’t been able to speak to Mr Phillips and we don’t know what his movements were last night we are unsure what has happened to his, but we are keeping an open mind in regards to a number of scenarios that may have occurred.”

He said police would investigate all possible leads, believing the cause of his injuries could range from a “medical episode” to a “traffic type accident” or “criminal-type incident”.

Mr Phillips was last sighted riding his bike on Flores Road in Webberton around 6.20pm on Monday night. Police believe he was travelling to the local shops in Wonthella.

The maroon-coloured mountain bike he was last seen riding wasn’t located at the scene, raising concerns it had been stolen.

“There are plenty of leads we are working on and plenty of actions we are conducting to try and uncover what has happened,” acting Inspector McDonald said.

““We’d like to seek assistance from the public to try and find out what’s happened to Mr Phillips.”

Anyone with information is asked to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000 or make a report online via crimestopperswa.com.au