A Jackson man has been sentenced to 35 years in prison for assaulting police officers in Madison County.
On September 28, 2022, 30-year-old Jonathan Santino Gray stole a work vehicle from a contractor working on a home in the Silverleaf Subdivision. Officers quickly located the vehicle in the city of Madison and attempted to stop the defendant.
He refused to stop, driving over 90 miles per hour as he continued south on Highland Colony Parkway until he entered the city of Ridgeland. He rammed several officers’ vehicles in attempts to further evade police.
As Gray changed directions and headed towards Ridgeland High School, officers made the decision to disable the vehicle before he could reach the school. U.S. Marshals were then able to take Gray into custody.
Authorities found a 9-millimeter handgun located in Gray’s possession after he was arrested.
Gray pled guilty to three counts of aggravated assault on a law enforcement officer, felony evasion, motor vehicle theft, and being a convicted felon in possession of a firearm. He will spend his sentence in the custody of the Mississippi Department of Corrections.
“When someone uses a vehicle to intentionally hit officers – whether they are in the cruisers or not – that is an aggravated assault by use of a deadly weapon. It is a miracle that no one was injured in this matter and that officers were able to stop the evasion before it got any closer to the high school,” District Attorney Bubba Bramlett said. “Let this case be a warning to anyone thinking of running through Madison or Rankin Counties and using your vehicle as a weapon against our officers. We will not take that lightly and you will face serious prison time for your actions.”
Gray had been previously convicted out of Hinds County for the charge of armed robbery in 2014.
