A convicted felon who served time for injuring two police officers when he rammed two police vehicles with a stolen SUV in Waikele in 2009 is behind bars again after he allegedly assaulted a police officer in Kalaeloa in connection with a separate auto theft case.

An Oahu grand jury returned an indictment against Jeremiah I. Lopez today, charging him with first-degree unauthorized control of a propelled vehicle, first-degree assault of a law enforcement officer, place to keep a pistol or revolver, unlawful ownership or possession of a firearm, and promoting a dangerous drug in the second-degree.

Lopez, also known as Jeremiah Lopez III, is being held at the Oahu Community Correctional Center in lieu of $300,000 aggregate bail and is expected to be arraigned on the charges at Circuit Court in the coming days.

Honolulu police responded to a report of a stolen red Hyundai Genesis from Pearl City on June 6.

A plainclothes officer of the District 8 Crime Reduction Unit spotted a man identified as Lopez driving the stolen sedan in Kalaeloa, police said in court documents. When the officer instructed him to pull over, Lopez instead fled in the vehicle.

Other CRU officers responded and saw the Hyundai veer into the brush area at which time the sedan stalled. Police said Lopez was seen exiting the car and fleeing into the brush.

Two days later, a Honolulu police officer located him in Kalaeloa. When the officer told him he was under arrest, Lopez allegedly reached for a pistol from his front waistband.

Police said a struggle ensued when Lopez punched the officer in the face. The officer wrestled the firearm away from Lopez and tackled him to the ground at which time Lopez kicked the officer in the knee, police added.

Checks of the pistol revealed the firearm was loaded with a 0.9 mm round in the chamber and four additional rounds in the magazine, court documents said. Police described the pistol as a “ghost gun” which did not have any serial numbers nor a pistol grip or slide.

Police also found a glass pipe containing a white and brown residue and a baggie containing a white crystalline substance in Lopez’s possession at the time of his arrest.

In a separate case, Lopez rammed two police vehicles with a stolen Dodge Durango at the Waikele KFC restaurant drive-through lane in November 2009. Lopez was then shot twice in the chest and once in his right arm.

In 2011, a circuit judge sentenced him to 10 years in prison after he was convicted of assault, unauthorized control of a propelled vehicle and other charges.

He was released in February 2020 after serving his full sentence, according to spokeswoman Toni Schwartz of the Hawaii Department of Public Safety.