Highway Trooper Uses Patrol Car to Hit Fleeing Suspect

[kellyhound]

Videos have surfaced showing two members of the South Carolina Highway Patrol using their cruisers to ram fleeing suspects, just weeks after two leaders of the agency resigned because of a furor over a trooper's use of a racial slur.

In one of the two new dash-cam videos, which were first reported Wednesday by The Post and Courier of Charleston, Lance Cpl. Steven C. Garren drives after a man on foot, striking him when he crosses in front of Garren's cruiser. The man flips over the car's hood and into high grass on the roadside.

"Yeah, I hit him. I was trying to hit him," Garren, who is white, can be heard telling another trooper.

In the other, Lance Cpl. Alexander Richardson drives between apartment buildings, on sidewalks and past onlookers in an attempt to run down a suspect. After about a minute, Richardson's car bumps the man, who grabs the vehicle in an attempt to steady himself. The man doesn't fall and takes off running again.

Sid Gaulden, a spokesman for the Department of Public Safety, said neither trooper was available for comment. A message left at a number for an Alexander Richardson was not immediately returned. Garren did not have a listed phone number.

The videos depicted isolated events, and the troopers involved had been punished, Gaulden said.

Garren received a three-day suspension, which he has appealed. Richardson was reprimanded and completed a stress management course, disciplinary records show.

[chris]

holy shit,

can you believe that cop said "yea, I was trying to hit him" wtf!

[Kehko]

Not only are they piece-of-shit cops, they're too damn lazy to get their fat ass out of the car!

[kellyhound]

The South Carolina State Highway Patrol has come under fire for its treatment of suspects.

The police released dash cam video in which three different troopers are seen using excessive force on suspects.

The first tape shows a stop in Orangeburg County, South Carolina.

It shows a trooper during a traffic stop, poking at a person with his department-issued shotgun.

The trooper received a pay cut was demoted and moved to another county.

In a letter, Public Safety Director Jim Schweitzer told him, "Your actions were unnecessary and not consistent with training procedures."

The second tape shows a high-speed chase through Sumter County.

A dump truck driver swerves, won't stop and even hits a car.

After 30 minutes, the driver surrenders and is ordered to lie on the ground.

That’s when a trooper is seen repeatedly kicking the man.

The driver's family said he had a mental health disorder and was depressed.

The officer has since resigned.

The third tape shows a stop with a trooper climbing on top of a passenger and hitting him with his hands.

In that case, the trooper told investigators the passenger had his hands under his shirt, something the trooper saw as a threat.

The trooper says he hit the suspect to get him to move his hands.

That trooper received counseling for improper technique and is now assigned to the governor's security detail.

Schweitzer says he does not excuse the behavior in these stops, but believes the discipline fit the dangerous nature of the situations.

"You have to take it in context of the entire event, watching videotape of the entire event. No matter how egregious it doesn't take into account the entire stop,” said Schweitzer.


Meantime, Schweitzer himself is on his way out.

He resigned after other tapes recently surfaced.

[chris]

The dumptruck chase is unreal, they should have filed charges against the officer for kicking that man. Totally unnecessary.

I'm so sick of people like that guy saying the video was out of context, .. bullshit!

The video shows exactly what happened.

[gringo1965]

that's funnyyyyyyyyyyyy

[Grimlyfe]

Lmao, that was beautiful. Good job officer.