South Carolina saw a record 49 shootings involving officers in 2020, according to a press release from the State Law Enforcement Division (SLED). This corresponds to the brand defined in 2017 – and continues a worrying escalation of this metric.
There were 45 shootings involving officers in South Carolina in 2019 – the eighth consecutive year that the state has seen at least forty of these incidents.
The latest incident involved police officers from the Charleston, SC police department – who were responding to a domestic disturbance in the Bridgeview Village apartments on North Romney Street in downtown Charleston.
The incident occurred shortly after 3:15 am EST. when Charleston police received a report of domestic violence involving “an individual with a gun”.
According to police reports, a Charleston police officer “was shot in the chest” during an ensuing exchange of fire. Fortunately, the policeman was wearing a ballistic vest and suffered injuries that were not fatal.
The suspect who shot the policeman was killed during a volley of bullets.
Bridgeview Village – formerly known as Bayside Manor – is no stranger to violence, according to the reporter Gregory Yee of The (Charleston, SC) Post and Courier.
“His history of criminal violence dates back to the early 2000s,” noted Yee, citing several homicides, as well as a 2008 incident in which a three-year-old girl was injured during a shootout at the 300-unit complex, which is located on the banks of the Cooper River, at the neck of the Charleston Peninsula.
(Via: Google Maps)
SLED investigates police shootings as a matter of protocol in the vast majority of local law enforcement jurisdictions in the state of Palmetto – presenting independent investigative reports to the attorney with jurisdiction over the county or county where the shooting occurred.
At this point, the lawyer determines whether the police officer (s) involved acted properly when unloading their weapons.
SLED also typically issues arrest warrants in connection with suspects who are involved in shootings involving police.
Why is the state agency involved in these local law enforcement investigations? Several reasons …
First, local law enforcement agencies request SLED assistance because the agency has consistently scored high for the professionalism, objectivity and accuracy it brings to these investigations.
Specifically, the agency has established itself as proficient in assessing ballistic and forensic evidence associated with such investigations – bringing in investigative resources to deal with crime scenes that many local jurisdictions lack.
Just as importantly, SLED’s involvement in these investigations prevents local law enforcement agencies from having to investigate their own police officers – which could lead to conflicts of interest.
Even if local law enforcement agencies conducted credible investigations into these matters, critics could take advantage of the fact that the investigations were not independent – creating unnecessary (and avoidable) controversies.
This media has repeatedly argued that state lawmakers should make the role of SLED across the state in investigating these incidents part of state law. Unfortunately, so far this legislation has been successfully blocked by the influential sheriff of Richland County, SC Leon Lott – one of the only local law enforcement leaders whose agency still investigates its own police shootings.
According to SLED, its objective is “to conduct an independent and complete criminal investigation as timely as possible in the circumstances”.
“SLED investigators will conduct interviews with all potential witnesses in this matter,” noted his statement. “In addition, SLED will collect all relevant evidence and test it forensically as needed. The information collected in the SLED investigation of the incident will be summarized in a report from the case file to be submitted to prosecutors ”.
We will keep our readers up to date on the latest police shooting in Charleston – which has been home to growing illegality.
By the way, this is the second shooting involving the Charleston police this year. Last year, there were no such incidents involving Charleston officials.
For news about all these incidents, check out the newsroom page on the updated SLED website.
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