Three New videos show S.C. Troopers Kicking, Hitting Black Motorists

The state Department of Public Safety on Monday released three new videos of state troopers, this time of officers striking people who were in vehicles they stopped in 2006.

Monday’s videos are the latest in a string of Highway Patrol videos depicting misconduct that started almost a month ago with the captured voice of a white trooper issuing a racial slur and threatening a black man he was chasing in a 2004 traffic stop.

After watching that video, Gov. Mark Sanford withdrew the nomination of Schweitzer the next day for a second term. Sanford also accepted the resignation of Col. Russell Roark, the Patrol’s commander. Sanford said the trooper, who was issued a reprimand, should have been fired.

Other videos followed, including two in which troopers struck fleeing motorists on foot with their Patrol cars. The U.S. Justice Department subsequently opened a civil rights investigation, to be assisted by the State Law Enforcement Division.

The state’s Senate also has promised an investigation, to be triggered when Sanford produces his next nominee to head DPS. Sen. Robert Ford of Charleston, a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said last week as many as 40 videos show trooper misconduct.

Monday’s videos concern the conduct of three white troopers, though a black corporal was standing at the scene of one of the incidents and intervened to stop a trooper striking a black motorist in the back, according to records and a spokesman for the agency.

In another stop, both the trooper accused of repeatedly kicking a subdued dump truck driver in the head and the driver were white.

The trooper in that incident resigned, said Sid Gaulden, a spokesman for DPS, which houses the Patrol. A trooper in another of the incidents was counseled on proper procedure and another was demoted and transferred, Gaulden said, a punishment he is appealing in the courts.

"We’re not proud of the actions seen in these tapes," Schweitzer said. "But in each case they were dealt with."

In the kicking incident, the video doesn’t actually show the trooper involved, who is identified as Lance Cpl. J.B. Sawyer in DPS records, striking anyone. Instead it shows a car following a dump truck along I-95 in the Pee Dee area that had refused to stop for authorities.

According to documents released by DPS, Sawyer was among several officers who used their handguns and shotguns to shoot out six of the vehicle’s 12 tires, radiator and gas tank before the truck finally stopped. A Dillon County deputy used a Taser to subdue the driver, then Sawyer kicked him several times in the head area, according to DPS records.

A voice is heard on the tape after the truck is stopped yelling profanities at the driver.

The prosecutor for the area later declined to prosecute any of the officers involved in the stop but didn’t specifically mention Sawyer, according to the records. He later agreed orally to issue a letter of declination but didn’t do so and Sawyer resigned during the process.

In another stop, the video depicts Cpl. M.D. Tomson, who was identified by agency records, chasing a pickup in Colleton County for speeding. After the truck eventually stops, Tomson orders the pair of black males out, yelling at them to get on the ground and pointing his shotgun at them. Both complied.

After passenger Demtrius Jones, identified by records, gets on the ground, the video shows Tomson poking with his shotgun in the direction of his head, though the camera doesn’t show either of the handcuffed males.

Jones wasn’t charged with anything and was later treated at a hospital with stitches to his left cheek, according to DPS records. The driver was charged with failing to stop for a blue light and driving while under suspension.

Tomason was demoted and transferred, and his punishment is currently being appealed in the courts, Gaulden said.

In the third incident, Lance Cpl. E.J. Burton, identified by agency records, was one of several troopers chasing a motorist for speeding in Sumter County. The car eventually ran into a yard and got stuck.

Burton was one of the troopers rushing up to the car to get those inside to come out, according to records, and he slipped and fell as he was reaching to grab the passenger’s hand. As he got up other officers ordered the passenger to the ground and he complied but placed one or both hands under his stomach.

Burton then began striking the passenger in the back three times with an empty fist and four times with a hand carrying his flashlight, according to records. Cpl. Josepha Ham then approached Burton and ordered him to "ease off."

In a statement on the incident, Burton said he struck the passenger "in order to gain compliance" with an order the passenger show both his hands, according to records. He said he "tapped" the passenger several times in the back of the head to get him to show his other hand, the records say.

The man authorities believe was the driver wasn’t apprehended, according to the agency’s records.

Burton was later counseled for failing to "observe basic officer safety precautions following this pursuit," according to the records.

Ham was issued a reprimand, Gaulden said, for failing to report Burton’s use of force to his supervisor. [MORE]