A Stone County man has been charged with felony aggravated assault along with four misdemeanors after authorities say he pointed a rifle at a woman and her son.
The court records say the incident that brought the charges occurred on April 1, when James Dylan Charles Johnstone, 21, allegedly went to a residence and pointed an AR-15-type rifle at the woman and her son, and said he wanted to fight the son.
The victim told responding deputies that after Johnstone pulled up in his car and pointed the weapon, he then put the rifle away and attacked her son, saying Johnstone pulled him to the ground by his hair, causing some hair to come out from the force, and hit him in the face “multiple times.”
After trying to pull Johnstone off her son, the victim said she was attacked from behind by a passenger from the Johnstone vehicle, but managed to throw the passenger to the ground. That’s when the victim said the passenger and Johnstone got back into Johnstone’s vehicle and sped from the scene, according to the court information.
After a brief pursuit by authorities, the court documents report Johnstone’s vehicle was soon spotted and stopped by Stone County Sheriff’s Deputy Billy Cockrell.
According to Johnstone’s arrest affidavit, Johnstone admitted to hitting the victim’s son, but denied pulling a rifle. Johnstone told deputies that the victim’s son allegedly had a pistol in his hand during the incident, and that’s why he hit him. The affidavit said Johnstone admitted there was an AR-15-type rifle in his trunk, which deputies located.
The affidavit also noted that, in addition to the passenger, there had been two small juveniles in Johnstone’s vehicle during the pursuit.
Johnstone was arrested and taken to jail, while the passenger was not arrested in order to take care of the two juveniles.
The passenger told deputies that Johnstone had allegedly been getting threats from the victim’s son, but also said the incidents had not been reported, according to the affidavit.
In addition to felony aggravated assault, Johnstone is also charged with misdemeanor battery in the third degree, two misdemeanor counts of endangering the welfare of a minor in the second degree, and one misdemeanor count of reckless driving. The court placed Johnstone on a $50,000 bond.
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