COLUMBIA, S.C. -- A South Carolina state senator has proposed that state authorities review all shootings that involve law enforcement officers.
Sen. Gerald Malloy of Hartsville, about 70 miles northeast of Columbia, noted that state police investigated all but one officer-involved shooting in South Carolina in 2018 -- but that one was the deadliest encounter of all.
The case that sparked Malloy's legislation happened in October, when five law enforcement officers were wounded and two were killed after a suspect opened fire on them at a home in Florence County, the neighbor to Malloy's Darlington County.
County deputies had gone to the home on Oct. 3 to serve a warrant in a child sexual assault case when someone opened fire on them from a second-story window.
During the firefight, a SWAT team and other agents from the State Law Enforcement Division were headed to the scene to assist, but the Florence County sheriff's office called them off, according to State Law Enforcement Division spokesman Thom Berry. Florence County Sheriff Kenney Boone then turned the investigation over to Richland County -- 60 miles from the crime scene -- rather than to the division.
Boone did not respond to a request for an interview. He said at the time that Richland County deputies had the expertise and equipment to conduct a thorough investigation.
Boone also has a history with the law enforcement division.
State agents investigated messages that he left last summer with county officials who questioned his expenses. Prosecutors at the state attorney general's office reviewed the division's report and determined that while the messages were unprofessional, rude and could be interpreted as threats, no crime was committed.
Richland County Sheriff Leon Lott has fought previous bills that would require the State Law Enforcement Division to investigate his officers if they shoot at suspects. He said he has an advisory council of citizens that can review shootings and dispute the findings of investigators.
A spokesman for Lott said the Florence County incident isn't a routine police shooting case.
"We did not classify the Florence County shooting as an officer-involved shooting. It was a murder; a premeditated mass shooting against the officers. We investigated it as such," said Capt. Maria Yturria.
Many states lack a law specifying which agency investigates police shootings, said Philip Stinson, a professor at Ohio's Bowling Green State University. Wisconsin and New Jersey, however, adopted specific guidelines after a rash of high profile killings.
Among the largest cities in the U.S. and Canada, 49 percent report having their own agencies investigate shootings by their officers, according to a 2018 report by the Major Cities Chiefs Association.
Stinson said independent investigations with set guidelines reduce the appearance of impropriety, but that many jurisdictions resist because "police chiefs and county sheriffs are sometimes very territorial and want to take care of things on their own."
Since the beginning of 2014, there have been 231 police shootings in South Carolina. Local agencies have asked State Law Enforcement Division agents to investigate all but eight of them. The only agencies to not ask for the division's help were Richland County and Florence County, Berry said.
The widow of one of the officers killed in Florence County said there was "chaos" during the investigation. She said she believes the county lacked the experience to handle such a case and that neither the victims nor their families got the help or the information they needed.
"It felt like we got pushed aside because of confusion or complications about the investigation," Allison Carraway said at a public hearing on Malloy's proposal. Her husband, Florence city police Sgt. Terrence Callaway, was killed, as was Florence County sheriff's investigator Farrah Turner.
Turner's family issued a statement in response to Carraway's remarks, saying their experience with investigators doesn't reflect hers.
Carraway says she still has scores of questions. She wants an explanation as to why the State Law Enforcement Division isn't leading the investigation into her husband's death, a timeline of what happened from when he arrived at the shooting scene, how he was shot and how long it took to get him medical help.
"I simply want an explanation," Carraway said. "I think that is something we deserve."
A Section on 01/20/2019