PROVIDENCE — A bank-robbery suspect accused of trying to run down a Rhode Island State Police sergeant Thursday night in Providence is being held without bail following his arraignment Friday in District Court.

The police say Darrin A. Gray, 43, whose last known address was 266 High St. in Cumberland, drove at state police Sgt. Donald Devine when Devine and other officers tried to arrest him at a gas station at Chalkstone and River avenues in Mount Pleasant.

He was charged with second-degree robbery, assault with intent to commit a robbery, felony assault with a dangerous weapon (his vehicle), possession of cocaine, resisting arrest, possession of a knife over 3 inches long, three counts of possession of a “bludgeon,” eluding the police and driving on a suspended license.

Gray, who was out on bail on a Cranston felony charge for receiving stolen goods, was held as a violator pending a hearing on July 17.

Gray was wanted in connection with a bank robbery in Cumberland Tuesday morning.

At a press conference at the state police headquarters, Cumberland Police Chief John Desmarais said Gray walked into a Sovereign Bank branch in Cumberland Tuesday around 11:30 a.m. saying he wanted to open an account. As the bank employee got up, Gray grabbed her by the waist and arm and forced her to the counter, passing a note to the teller that said “he wanted 50s and 100s, and do it quickly.”

Gray took off with more than $2,000 in cash, Desmarais said.

A witness saw a man who matched the description of the bank robber running along the train tracks and entering a house in Cumberland, where the police later learned Gray had been living, Desmarais said.

Thursday night, half a dozen undercover officers with the state police’s fugitive task force converged at the gas station in Providence around 7:45 p.m., said State Police Lt. James Demers.

An officer in an unmarked police cruiser tried to block Gray with his car, Demers said. But Gray went around the car, driving directly at Devine.

“It was a dangerous and desperate move to get out of the parking lot,” said Col. Brendan P. Doherty, the state police superintendent.

Demers said Devine, standing a short distance from the car, yelled, “Police! Police! Police!” ordering Gray to stop.

"There wasn’t a whole lot of room to get out, and [Gray] was clearly not stopping. He was going to get out of the parking lot one way or the other,” Demers said.

Devine shot twice at the car as he fell out of the way. He was unharmed.

Officers recovered the casings but are still investigating where the bullets lodged, said Doherty.

Officers chased Gray into Olneyville, where he was arrested following a brief foot chase, the police said.

Devine, a 23-year veteran of the state police, remains on duty, said Doherty.

Doherty said the state police believe Devine acted within guidelines in shooting at Gray.

“There was an imminent threat that [Devine] was going to be hit,” Doherty said.

A person who is confronted with deadly force or grave bodily harm has a right to defend himself with deadly force, said Matthew Dawson, deputy chief of the criminal division in the attorney general’s office.

kbramson@projo.com