Dyson Graham, who will be turning 25 on Friday, was released from state prison 11 months ago after serving three years on a conviction for carrying a concealed weapon as a convicted felon. Sunday morning, Graham and a 16-year-old girl missing from Hillsborough County were arrested in Flagler County following a carjacking in Orange County and a car crash in Palm Coast.
Around 9 p.m. on Wednesday, a man and a woman were carjacked at gunpoint at the Florida mall, and forced briefly to ride and drive the car, a 2009 black Toyota Corolla, before being forced out of the car in the parking lot. The carjacker also fired a gun during the incident–he is believed to have fired the shot into the ground, either accidentally or to scare the couple–the Orange County Sheriff’s Office reported, but no one was hurt. The incident took place at Orange Blossom Trail and Sand Lake Road.
No surveillance video was available in that area of the Florida Mall, but authorities released a sketch of the carjacker.
Sunday, the black Corolla was spotted in St. Johns County, and fled south on I-95, hitting speeds of up to 100 miles per hour.
According to a Flagler Sheriff’s release, Flagler deputies were contacted by the St. Johns County Sheriff’s Office and told that their
deputies were in pursuit of the Toyota on I-95. The car entered Flagler County just before 4 a.m. and exited at Palm Coast Parkway where Flagler deputies had set-up stop-sticks. As the car exited the interstate, the driver was able to avoid hitting the stop-sticks and then continued across Palm Coast Parkway in an apparent attempt by the driver to get back on the interstate. The driver lost control of the car and struck three palm trees before coming to a halt along the southbound entrance ramp.
Following the crash, the driver fled, leaving the 16-year-old girl inside. He then ran into a wooded area adjacent to Cypress Edge Drive. Deputies conducted a ground search for the driver–Graham–who was located. Graham was bitten by a K-9 as he hid under a trash dumpster outside of the Golden Corral on Cypress Edge Drive. Graham was treated at the scene for several bite wounds.
Graham, of 3306 Green St. in Jacksonville, is charged with possession of stolen property, possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, carrying a concealed firearm and resisting arrest without violence. The St. Johns County Sheriff’s Office and the Orange County Sheriff’s Office may file additional charges.
The 16-year-old girl’s name is being withheld. She remained in the car. She was taken into custody, where deputies learned of her having been reported missing. She will be charged with possession of stolen property. Following questioning, by investigators from Flagler and the Orange County Sheriff’s Office, both will be booked at the Flagler County Detention Facility.
justwondering says
You’ve got to love the K-9’s.
A.S.F. says
Young lives going down the drain…Very sad.
m&m says
Here’s another one who will not spend a day or night in jail where he belongs due to our judicial system.
THE VOICE OF REASON says
Did the dog get a coupon for a free breakfast buffet?
jp says
Sad?, I’m angry, they are destroying this country…
Diana L says
I wish our prisons would try to rehabilitate rather than them turning into career criminals that end up back in prison. Privatizing prisons adds to them returing.
EYEONFLAGLER says
Another great job by FCSO, KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK!!!
take a look says
m&m, take a look at his mug shot above. That comes straight from the Florida department Of Corrections. The guy has already been to prison.
ijs says
what do u mean. who are they destroying this country
Make em work! says
Our prisons don’t need to be a bed and breakfast for criminals. 3 square meals a day and a roof over there heads. Prison needs to be hard work, chain gangs, smashing rocks and doing things for the greater good of the public. There is no reason that all of us should have to go to work 5-6 days a week and bust ours just so that they can sit in prison and watch tv. It’s sad. I’m thinking of getting locked up myself.
m&m says
take a look- if he was in prison why did he get out?? I think the judicial system throws them back on the street..
A.S.F. says
m&m says–Maybe he was released because he had served his allotted sentence….If that is the case, it sort of gives some credence to Diana L.’s point mentioned above. Some folks would like to have it both ways–Saying, lock ’em up and throw away the key but don’t waste my tax dollars paying for 3 hots and a cot for these bad boys.
Diana L says
I am not sure what or if you have ever been in a prison but I assure you they are not all bed and breakfasts where they sit around and watch tv and eat Bon Bons all day. I have seen the emails going around that talk about prisons that are country clubs, and I call bs on those. It’s just another thing to give us fake outrage. Our prisoners should be treated with respect, which will hopefully teach them to respect others. This hard a** approach just teaches our prisoners how to survive. Perhaps if we teach them how not to be criminals, we would have better results. Because what we are doing now, clearly is not working.
PCresident says
You are totally correct with saying that criminals should be reabilitated versus a big time out from life with major stings attached that will get you put into prison real quick like once you’re released. Part of the problem is in sentencing and the other is with how these inmates actually serve their time.
Sitting a jail cell to rot away should be left for prisioners who have life sentences, all others should be required to work everyday in a trade to their aptitude. This way when they are released they can be a productive asset to their respective community. The probation and parol system we currently have sets these people up for immediate failure; look at the percentage of people who are sent right back to prison or jail for VOP. There is no reason prisioners cannot manufacture furniture for government buildings or farm their own foods, or anything trade related. People just have to an open mind.
I am not saying make their time in jail like a country club stay, but make them productive from the get go, and hopefully that habit will be carried over when they are released. Another aspect to, when the prisioners are a year out from being released they should start to be productive in their entire life and should be required to pay for their stay, the same way they would when they get out. When they are released, the institutionalization that occurred with their stay will have been weened away and they would be self sufficient without crime.
I get some things look good on paper, and are easier said then done, but what we currently do is not working and will not work, we have proven that. Doing the same thing over and over expecting a different result is the definition of insanity, so says Albert Einstein!
Howard Duley says
I’m just guesssing but my intuition says this guy wouldn’t give a hoot about gun control laws.This is the reason I will hold onto my guns no matter what the law says. The criminals will have weapons and the citizens will be helpless. I trust my own judgement before I can depend on the police.