Revis sentenced to 87 months after assaulting officers
Stealing a leaf blower in Haywood County ended last week with a hefty prison sentence for an Asheville man, who fled from — then assaulted and spit on — law-enforcement officers, after driving at a high rate of speed through a crowded parking lot.
Monday, District Attorney Ashley Hornsby Welch said Jeremy Revis, 40, will serve 87 months to 117 months in the N.C. Department of Corrections.
Revis pleaded guilty to:
• One count of felony flee/elude arrest with a motor vehicle.
• Two counts of felony assault with a deadly weapon on a government official.
• Five counts of felony malicious conduct by a prisoner.
• One count of felony possession of a stolen motor vehicle.
• Two counts of misdemeanor assault on a government official/employee.
• One count habitual-felon status.
If a defendant has three or more felony convictions, it’s within a prosecutor’s discretion to seek habitual felon status. Chief Assistant District Attorney Jeff Jones, who prosecuted Revis, opted to seek habitual felon status.
Revis has prior felony convictions in Buncombe County.
Senior Resident Superior Court Judge Bradley B. Letts sentenced Revis in the aggravated range on North Carolina’s felony punishment chart.
Here’s what happened:
On April 28, 2020, a leaf-blower owner, in connection with the theft from a garage on Browning Branch, recorded the tag number of a Toyota truck, then contacted law enforcement. At the same time, on Hendrix Street, Waynesville Officer Tyler Howell was in his patrol car, checking vehicle tag numbers.
Howell recognized the description of a pickup truck he had cleared seconds earlier and matched the tag number. He searched for the Toyota, pulling it over on the bypass. Howell spoke to the driver. The driver, Revis, sped away. Law enforcement officers followed. Speeds reached 100 miles per hour as the chase unfolded in the eastbound lanes of U.S. 23.
Revis turned off the highway at Exit 104. He drove over a concrete median, into the parking lot of Lowe’s Home Improvement Store, and smashed through a wooden sign.
Next, Revis turned onto Liner Cove Road, where he drove into Howell’s patrol car, turning it counter clockwise. The officer maintained control of his car.
Howell wrote in an incident report: “I swerved left into the suspect vehicle, pushing it up over the concrete curbing and into a state road sign, cutting it off at the ground. I continued to push the vehicle until it was completely off the road and in the grass.”
Revis jumped out and started running. Apprehended, he fought, kicking one officer in the groin and another officer in the stomach. He also spit on them.