More Foul Tapes, Records of S.C. Troopers Using Excessive Force, Slurs Against Blacks

Hundreds of records and more than two dozen videotapes released Friday by the state Department of Public Safety include allegations against state troopers ranging from tickets being improperly dropped for clients of a state senator to a trooper handcuffing a black college student to a guard rail with his pants pulled down.

The allegations also include the theft of money from drivers, assaults on motorists or passengers, intentionally erasing or cutting off in-car cameras and a ticket-fixing involving the State Transport Police, according to the records.

Two of the allegations -- involving the dropped tickets and the college student -- haven’t been investigated yet, and officials cautioned against drawing any conclusions.

In cases among the tapes where investigations have been concluded, some don’t back up the allegations made by citizens, while other officers were exonerated after internal investigations, especially in incidents involving the use of weapons.

In other cases, troopers were disciplined as a result of the complaints or incidents, according to the records, which were copies of the materials requested by senators investigating the agency and trooper misconduct.

One case that hasn’t been investigated yet involves allegations that a black Columbia college student on his way to a new fast-food job was stopped and handcuffed to a guardrail on I-77 by a trooper, according to a letter from his mother to Richland County Sheriff Leon Lott, which was forwarded to DPS investigators. It also alleges that he was made to pull down his pants and remove his shoes and that he was taunted with a racial slur.

The allegations also include that officers ripped apart the dashboard of the car, which he had borrowed from his mother, and then gave him a $400 ticket when he couldn’t prove the car was covered by insurance, which she insisted it was, according to the records.  "Eric was devastated by the officer’s behavior and reminded me that I say they are there to protect and serve," Celeste Pinckney wrote March 7, according to a copy of a transcribed letter released Friday.

The officer was on a Patrol motorcycle, according to the letter, which isn’t equipped with video cameras.

The racial slur allegation came seven weeks after Gov. Mark Sanford withdrew his nomination of the current DPS director, Jim Schweitzer, after viewing a videotape showing a white state trooper using a racial slur and threatening a black man.

In the dropped ticket allegations, 12 of 17 tickets turned in by a trooper in January to a regional office were discovered to be marked not guilty and had been signed off three months earlier by the trooper, according to the records.

Capt. C.N. Williamson, commander of the troop in the Orangeburg region, wrote in a memo that 10 of the 12 tickets were for DUI, driving under suspension or disregarding a traffic signal. All, he wrote, were clients of Sen. Brad Hutto of Orangeburg, according to records released Friday by the agency.

"This type of action by a trooper, finding Driving Under the Influence tickets not guilty without a trial, is improper," he wrote in asking for an investigation.

Hutto couldn’t be reached to comment.

"I don’t think the tapes will demonstrate a systemic pattern or problem of misconduct or racist behavior," said Sid Gaulden, spokesman for DPS.

All of the materials released Friday were requested by senators preparing for the confirmation hearing of State Law Enforcement Division Maj. Mark Keel, who has been nominated by Sanford to head the agency.

Previously released tapes have included two videos showing troopers in cars striking suspects on foot and other videos showing troopers out of their cars striking individuals at traffic stops.

Those videos triggered a civil rights investigation by the U.S. Justice Department, the FBI and SLED.

None of the records or videos released Friday show a trooper using any racial slurs, though one motorist alleged a trooper made such a remark. The complaint was found to be unfounded.

While some troopers using their weapons were found to be acting in accordance with policy, other troopers were found to have violated use-of-force rules.

One trooper retired and pleaded guilty to a misconduct in office charge following a 2005 incident in Spartanburg County in which he was accused of kicking or stomping a suspect and then striking him while another trooper moved him to his car, according to the records released Friday.

Another trooper was ordered to undergo counseling last year after allegations that he struck the head of a suspect who was resisting the placement of handcuffs on him, causing an injury, according to the records.

Another trooper received a reprimand in 2004, the records show, for throwing a suspect onto the hood of his car. He resigned from the Patrol in 2006 after he was investigated for kicking a motorist lying on the ground in the head, according to records released earlier.

Among other materials released to news media Friday is an investigation of allegations that State Transport Police were ordered by superiors to drop tickets written to trucks going to what was described in the report as a Lee County landfill after state Rep. Grady Brown of Bishopville asked that trucks not be ticketed.

Brown told The Greenville News that he did talk to a State Transport Police major and asked him not to ticket trucks at the entrance of the landfill after the landfill operator complained. Brown said he suggested that there were plenty of areas around the county for the police to ticket trucks.

According to the report, Col. Anna Amos, commander of the Transport Police, told officers at a September 2005 meeting to stay away from the area around the landfill. An officer at the meeting alleged that an unidentified lawmaker owned a service station near the landfill "and doesn’t like us down there." Brown said he doesn’t own a service station nor any business near the landfill area.

According to an officer quoted in the report, she responded by saying, "That’s just how it is and just stay away from the area."

Amos told internal investigators that she didn’t remember the landfill coming up at the meeting, according to the report by the investigators.

"Col. Amos statements contradict nine officers’ written affidavits that stated that they heard the subject of the Lee County landfill brought up" at the meeting, the report states. Five officers said they heard her responses on the matter, the report released Friday states.

She couldn’t be reached for comment Friday, and Gaulden said he wasn’t aware of the investigation.

No disciplinary actions were noted as a result of the probe, though the report noted that some officers, including a captain, may have violated disciplinary policy because they "dismissed cases without judicial process."

Several troopers were criticized in investigative reports for turning off their body microphones, turning off their cameras or editing or erasing videotapes.

"You also stopped your videotape during collision investigations and interactions with citizens," then Col. Russell Roark wrote in a disciplinary letter to one trooper who the documents said was given a reprimand.

"In addition, the vidotape review disclosed several incidents in which you acted improperly by using profanity, name-calling, and making other inappropriate remarks in the presence of citizens."

In another case, a trooper was demoted and suspended for one week in 2006 after he rewound his videotape to remove evidence of an incident in which he pursued a driver for a seatbelt violation, then decided to forget the matter after finding the abandoned car in a trailer park, according to the records.

Another trooper was suspended for two days in 2004, according to the records, for erasing a tape to hide his verbal abuse of a suspect.

The records also include two cases in which troopers were accused of taking bond money from Hispanic drivers.

In one case, a trooper was fired after he was arrested in 2005 on charges he misappropriated between $6,000 and $10,000 in bond money, according to the records.

Another trooper was fired last year, according to the records, after he admitted taking $500 from three Hispanic drivers in Greenville County and was arrested on charges of breach of trust and misconduct in office.

The records don’t indicate the outcome of either criminal case. [MORE]