Update: Bank-robbery suspect, shot at by police, held
5:55 PM Fri, Jul 03, 2009 | Permalink
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By Maria Armental and Kate Bramson PROVIDENCE, R.I. -- A bank-robbery suspect accused of trying to run down a Rhode Island State Police sergeant Thursday night in Providence is being held without bail following his arraignment Friday in District Court, Providence. The police say Darrin A. Gray, 43, of Cumberland, drove at Sgt. Donald Devine when Devine and other officers tried to arrest Gray at a gas station Thursday night at Chalkstone and River avenues in Mount Pleasant. As is customary in District Court, Gray entered no plea to felony charges of assault with a dangerous weapon (his vehicle), felony possession of cocaine, resisting arrest, possession of a knife over three inches long, three counts of possession of a "bludgeon," eluding the police and driving on a suspended license. State Police Lt. James Demers said Cumberland police had obtained an arrest warrant against Gray on second-degree robbery and assault with intent to commit a felony charges in connection with a bank robbery in Cumberland Tuesday. Gray was on bail on a February felony charge out of Cranston of receiving stolen goods. Bail was set on the current charges, but Gray was ordered held without bail as a violator on the charge of receiving stolen goods. A violation hearing was scheduled for July 17. The state police began pursuing Gray after the Cumberland department asked the state's Violent Fugitive Task Force for help, Demers said Friday morning. Thursday night, half a dozen undercover officers with the fugitive task force converged at a Shell gas station around 7:45 p.m., Demers said. Col. Brendan P. Doherty, the state police superintendent, said officers were conducting surveillance when they saw Gray pull into the gas station. At that point, an officer in an unmarked police cruiser tried to block Gray with his car, Demers said. Gray drove around the car, driving directly at Devine, the state police sergeant, trying to leave the gas station. "He's (Devine) a short distance away from the car and he's yelling, 'Police! Police! Police!' " Demers said. "Darrin Gray does not stop. ... There wasn't a whole lot of room to get out, and he was clearly not stopping. He was going to get out of the parking lot one way or the other." Devine shot twice, missing Gray and his car. Officers recovered the casings but are still investigating where the bullets lodged, said Doherty, the state police superintendent. Gray kept driving onto Academy Avenue, where he headed south toward Olneyville. Uniform state police officers joined the search, as did the Providence police, Demers said. In all, perhaps 35 officers were involved, Demers said. Gray stopped the Jeep and jumped out in Olneyville, near the Freeway Car Wash, Demers said. Uniformed officers who had been chasing Gray in a cruiser ran after him and arrested him by the car wash, according to the state police. He was held overnight to be arraigned Friday morning. Devine, a 23-year-veteran of the state police, remains on duty, said Col. Doherty. At this afternoon's press conference, Doherty, the state police superintendent, said the state police believe Devine acted within guidelines in shooting at Gray. "There was an imminent threat that he (Devine) was going to be hit," Doherty said. A police officer or any person who is confronted with deadly force or grave bodily harm has a right to defend himself with deadly force, said Matthew Dawson, deputy chief of the criminal unit in the Rhode Island Attorney General's Office. As is protocol, however, the shooting will be investigated. "Whether or not a grand jury will be involved is an open question," Dawson said. This story was originally published at 8:30 a.m. and was updated at 10:29 and 11:15 a.m., 12:57 p.m., and 2:57 p.m. 
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He shot 2 rounds, neither round hit the jeep ?
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I see another slap on the wrist here.
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You did the right thing Sergeant.
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If these morons won't express it, I will. God Bless, Sgt. Devin glad you alright to return to duty as well as your family.
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