Inmate sues former prison officer for alleged excessive force
BAMBERG (AP) – A convict with mental health problems, including schizophrenia, sued a former South Carolina county jailer for allegedly using excessive force.
On Monday, Tieresias Ephram’s lawyers said they filed a civil suit accusing Isaac Jackson of gross negligence, civil assault and assault and intentional imposition of emotional distress.
Lawyers say Ephram was being held in Bamberg County Prison on charges of shoplifting in 2019, when Jackson threw him at a window and door to try to force him into a cell. Ephram’s head snapped open and his lawyers say he needed emergency medical care.
Lawyers say Ephram has suffered from disorders like schizophrenia, hallucinations and paranoia since 2000. A judge later found Ephram mentally incompetent to stand trial for his theft charges.
Two months after the incident, state police accused Jackson of impropriety in the post, and the case is still pending. A Jackson operational number was not found on Monday.
Richland sheriff: battling gangs hurt, shoot members themselves
COLOMBIA (AP) – Two rival motorcycle gangs ended up shooting and injuring their own limbs when a fight broke out in the parking lot of a motorcycle store in South Carolina, officials said.
Surveillance video released Monday by Richland County sheriff Leon Lott shows five gang members huddling together during the fight on Thursday afternoon outside the Capital City Cycles in Columbia.
A man with a cane is seen swinging people wildly on the floor, and Lott said the man ended up delivering the fatal blows to a gang member who had already been shot.
Many of the gunshot wounds and other wounds in the fighting were inflicted by gang members on their own people, the sheriff said.
“The fighting, stabbing, shooting and beating were going on when the deputies got there,” said Lott.
The deputies are still trying to classify what happened and present the appropriate charges, the sheriff said.
“Everyone who was part of this melee will be charged,” said Lott.
Investigators are not sure whether the gangs planned to be at the motorcycle store at the same time or just arrived at the same time. The sheriff refused to give the names of the gangs at his press conference on Monday.
“I don’t want to publicize them,” said Lott. “They don’t deserve it.”
Sheriff Lott: Man kills brother and mother of brother’s son
COLOMBIA (AP) – MPs are trying to find out why a South Carolina man shot and killed his brother, as well as the mother of his son, said Richland County Sheriff Leon Lott.
One body was found Saturday morning in Richland County and the other body was found in Aiken County several hours later, Lott said.
Ashli Haigler was found dead in a vehicle in Columbia and her 5-year-old son was in the car, the sheriff said.
Police officers began looking for the child’s father and received a call from Aiken County deputies saying that Rufus Carmichael had been found dead on the side of a road near Batesburg, Lott said.
Police officers went to the home of Carmichael’s brother, Charles Carmichael, and arrested him after finding a gun and a vehicle covered in blood, Lott said.
Deputies in both counties are trying to determine where Rufus Carmichael was killed and why his brother attacked him and his son’s mother, the sheriff said.
It was not known whether Charles Carmichael had a lawyer.
Two people found dead inside home near Greenville
GREENVILLE (AP) – Two people were found dead inside a house near Greenville, officials said.
Both were found dead on Saturday inside a home in Greenville County, WSPA-TV reported.
The deputies were sent home after a 911 call stating that a woman had been shot, officials said.
The deputies thought that at least one other person was still inside the residence, and SWAT was requested. After entering the house, they found the dead man and woman inside.
The sheriff’s office is investigating the deaths as a suicide homicide.
Two children were inside the residence at the time, but were not injured, officials said.
Few other details were immediately available.