Guidelines Sought for Police Probes    01/19 11:19

   COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) -- State police investigated all but one 
officer-involved shooting in South Carolina in 2018. And the one they weren't 
called out for was the deadliest encounter of all.

   A state senator doesn't want to see that happen again. Sen. Gerald Malloy 
says all shootings in South Carolina that involve law enforcement officers 
should be reviewed by state authorities.

   The case that sparked the legislation happened last 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. County deputies had gone to the home 
on Oct. 3 to serve a warrant in a child sexual assault case when a suspect 
opened fire on them from a second-story window.

   During the firefight , a SWAT team and other agents from the State Law 
Enforcement Division (SLED) were headed to the scene to assist, but Florence 
County Sheriff's Office called them off, according to SLED spokesman Thom 
Berry. Then Florence County Sheriff Kenney Boone without explanation turned the 
investigation over to Richland County --- 60 miles (97 kilometers) from the 
crime scene --- rather than SLED.

   Boone did not respond to a request for an interview. But he said the time 
Richland County deputies had the expertise and equipment to conduct a thorough 
investigation.

   Boone also has a history with SLED.

   State agents investigated messages he left last summer with county officials 
who questioned his expenses. Prosecutors at the state Attorney General's office 
reviewed SLED's report and determined while the messages were unprofessional, 
rude, and could be interpreted as threats, no crime was committed.

   Richland County Sheriff Leon Lott fought previous bills that would require 
SLED to investigate his officers if they fire on suspects. He said he has an 
advisory council of citizens that can review shootings and dispute the findings 
of investigators.

   A spokeswoman 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 Bowling Green 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 SLED agents to investigate all but eight of 
them. The only agencies to not ask for SLED'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 believed the county lacked the 
experience to handle such a case and said neither the victims nor their 
families got get 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 Allison Carraway's 
remarks, saying their experience with investigators doesn't reflect hers.

   Carraway says she still has scores of questions - from an explanation as to 
why SLED isn't leading the investigation into her husband's death - to a 
timeline of what happened from when he arrived on the scene, to how he was 
shot, to how long it took to get him medical help.

   "I simply want an explanation," Carraway said. "I think that is something we 
deserve."


(KA)