Motorist Deaths by South Carolina Police Trigger Costly Settlements

Police forces in South Carolina have reached several high-dollar settlements in cases where officers have shot and killed drivers and others in moving vehicles in the past several years. Here are some of the most expensive settlements:

Zachary Hammond

Hammond’s family negotiated a $2.15 million settlement after the 19-year-old was killed by a Seneca police officer.

Hammond tried to drive out of a fast food restaurant parking lot in July 2015 as an officer tried to arrest his passenger who arranged a drug buy with an undercover officer.

Video of the shooting shows several ways Tiller’s actions didn’t match proper training. Tiller ran up to the front of the car, instead of keeping his distance to the side; he had no knowledge that a violent felony was taking place requiring his immediate intervention; and he had Hammond’s tag number and the cellphone number of the passenger who texted the officer to try and sell the drugs.

___

Rebecca Oliver

Oliver’s relatives were awarded $700,000 after she was shot and killed by a Duncan police officer after getting in the officer’s cruiser.

Officer Terry Lane was checking on Oliver, 24, and her boyfriend. He left his cruiser unlocked and Oliver started to drive off in March 2014.

Lane said he feared he was going to be run over as Oliver drove off. But Oliver’s lawyer said the officer was embarrassed his car was taken. He fired several shots, waited for nearly 30 seconds as Oliver cried out she didn’t want to be shot again because she had three kids, then shot one more time.

Prosecutors did not charge Lane.

___

Lacey Lamb

Woodruff Police paid a $700,000 settlement after the 28-year-old pregnant woman was shot and killed during a traffic stop in October 2012.

Lamb was a passenger in the car pulled over, and her family’s lawsuit said she was trying to move across the front seat to get control of the vehicle after the driver jumped out.

Woodruff officer Todd Knight said he shot her because he thought Lamb was trying to run him over.

Police found methamphetamine, a gun and ammunition in the car. The driver pleaded guilty to weapons and drug charges.

Knight was not charged with a crime.

___

Warren Robinson

Robinson’s family was paid a $600,000 settlement after he was shot trying to drive away from a Denmark police officer and a Bamberg County deputy in August 2011.

Bamberg County deputy Eddie Williams stopped Robinson after an informant said he had drugs in his truck. During the traffic stop, Robinson drove off. Denmark officer Horace Brunson then joined the chase, according to dashboard camera video.

Robinson stopped again and the officers ran toward his truck. One of them appeared to hit Robinson in the head with his gun. Robinson tried to drive off again and both officers shot at him, saying they feared being run over.

Neither officer was charged in the killing.

___

Bernard Bailey

The town of Eutawville’s insurer paid Bailey’s family $400,000 after he was shot and killed by Eutawville Police Chief Richard Combs in May 2011.

Prosecutors said Combs was trying to arrest Bailey on a trumped up charge of obstruction of justice weeks after the two had a confrontation over a traffic ticket for Bailey’s daughter.

Bailey refused to be arrested and tried to drive away in his truck. Combs shot and killed him, saying he feared for his life.

Combs was charged with murder in the shooting, but after two hung juries, a prosecutor accepted a plea to misconduct in office and Combs was sentenced to a year of house arrest.

Topics Auto Law Enforcement South Carolina