Ronald Vaughn is escorted by Deputy Rick Jordan, center, and Highway Patrol Sgt. Ray Steed Tuesday.(Melanie Duncan Thortis The Vicksburg Post)

[2/11/04]The 23-year-old suspected of intentionally running over a Warren County deputy sheriff with a car Monday will remain in jail until the deputy’s medical condition stabilizes and a formal charge is filed.

The deputy, 10-year veteran Mike Hollingsworth, 38, remained in the intensive care unit at University Medical Center, having been unconscious nearly 48 hours.

He was out of his patrol car, directing traffic along the short stretch of U.S. 80 between Glenwood Funeral Home and the entrance to Green Acres Memorial Park at mid-day Monday when he was hit by a Buick sedan.

Tuesday, in Warren County Justice Court, the Buick driver confirmed his own identity as Ronald Vaughn of 1402 Mauldin Drive.

Vaughn, wearing leg irons and chains, was brought to Vicksburg from the Hinds County Correctional Facility and was returned there immediately after the brief hearing.

He also turned down an opportunity for a court-appointed attorney. “I don’t need one,” Vaughn told Judge Joe Crevitt while appearing restless and indifferent. The affidavit read by Crevitt described Vaughn’s action as an “extreme indifference to human life.”

“Officer Hollingsworth is seriously injured and in critical condition, and we’re not sure what the ultimate outcome will be,” said District Attorney Gil Martin.

Vaughn, who had no driver’s license and initially refused to give his name, is charged with aggravated assault on a police officer, which carries a maximum sentence of 30 years in prison. He’s being held without bond under a separate state law that allows a suspect to be confined until the extent of a victim’s injuries is determined.

Martin also filed a motion Tuesday to revoke Vaughn’s five-year probation for a 1999 shooting into an occupied dwelling conviction for which he served a year. Vaughn had been under the supervised probation of Jack Hollingsworth, a probation officer and Mike Hollingsworth’s father.

A court date has not been set for the probation violation hearing.

Vaughn is also charged with the Sept. 16 armed robbery of a Vicksburg resident. According to police reports, Vaughn and Barry Dillon, 21, were arrested by several Warren County deputies, but Hollingsworth was not among them.

Despite being on probation, Vaughn had been released from jail on a $25,000 bond following the arrest in September.

“We weren’t aware of it,” Martin said. “We just got the file.”

Witnesses agree that the car driven by Vaughn came from behind the procession and sped up to go around the line of cars turning into the private cemetery.

According to most accounts, Hollingsworth was motioning for Vaughn to stop when the car veered back into the lane where Hollingsworth was standing, hit the deputy sheriff and then spun out of control into a nearby ravine.

Vaughn climbed out of the ravine but collapsed near the road. He was taken to River Region Medical Center, where he had to be sedated before being released to the Mississippi Highway Safety Patrol.

Because the incident involved a law enforcement officer and occurred on a state highway outside the municipal limits, the state police has jurisdiction. Warren Strain, spokesman for the highway patrol, said drug and alcohol tests were performed, but would not release the results.

Hollingsworth has been with the Warren County Sheriff’s Department since August 2002. Before then, he was a parole officer with the Mississippi Department of Corrections and had been with the Clinton Police Department.

He is married and has two children, a 16-year-old son and an 8-year-old daughter.

Warren County Sheriff Martin Pace said Hollingsworth is receiving breathing assistance from a ventilator.

Family members, including his wife and children, parents, and others are staying in a Jackson hotel.