Man sentenced to 5 years for assault on HSPD officers
A former Perry man arrested last year after attacking his ex-girlfriend and then fighting Hot Springs police pleaded guilty to felony and misdemeanor charges Wednesday in Garland County Circuit Court.
Jeremy James Grant, 32, who now lists a Conway address, appeared before Judge Marcia Hearnsberger and pleaded guilty to a felony count of aggravated assault on a law enforcement officer and was sentenced to five years in prison and a misdemeanor count of first-degree criminal mischief and was sentenced to six months in jail.
Grant, who has remained in custody since his last arrest on June 30, will be given credit for time served and an additional misdemeanor charge of third-degree domestic battery was withdrawn by prosecutors.
Grant was also ordered to pay $420 in court costs and $824.76 in a civil judgment to the HSPD for damages to a police unit following his arrest. Grant is considered a habitual offender, having been previously convicted in 2006 in Independence County of felony counts of commercial burglary and theft of property.
Grant was taken into custody on the assault, battery and mischief charges on June 4, 2014, around 4 p.m. at the Big Red Store, 2975 Central Ave., and initially held without bond.
According to reports, officers responded to a disturbance at the store and made contact with the female victim, 39, of Benton, who stated she had been in an altercation with her ex-boyfriend, identified as Grant, who was there at the scene.
She told police she had picked Grant up in Little Rock that morning and they came to Hot Springs to go to the lake. She noted Grant had been “drinking heavily” since about 8:30 a.m. and became aggravated once they got to Hot Springs.
She said he became angry with her and slapped her on the thighs. She states she tried to calm him down, but it didn’t work and at one point he used both hands to choke her as she was driving. She pulled into the Big Red and Grant told her he was going to “b - - - slap” her and then slapped her across the face. She got out of the vehicle leaving him inside.
Grant then punched the windshield from his seat, causing a large star-shaped crack. Officers noted the victim had redness around her neck consistent with being choked.
The officers took Grant into custody and he began yelling and cursing at them in front of other store patrons, including children. They put him in the back of HSPD Officer Langley’s unit and buckled him in.
Moments later, Grant unbuckled himself and began kicking the rear passenger side door, causing the door to bend outward. Then he began kicking the window area of the door until he was removed by officers.
Grant attempted to pull away from the officers, kicking at them and yelling and cursing at them until they were able to restrain his legs. They put him in the back seat again and started toward the detention center, but when they got to about the 1900 block of Malvern he slipped out of his cuffs and began to head-butt the metal cage dividing the front and back.
Langley pulled over and he and Cpl. Goss attempted to restrain Grant again as he reportedly spit on both of them, hitting them in the face and clothing. They put him in the back again and he continued head-butting the cage, so Langley drove with lights and siren to the detention center for fear of Grant hurting himself.
After he arrived at the jail, Grant went limp in the back seat and had to be carried inside where he was put into a holding cell. He was finally booked into the jail shortly after 6:30 p.m.