SC sheriff’s office: Deputy fired after shooting fleeing car
A sheriff's deputy in South Carolina has been fired after he shot at a car trying to drive away from a traffic stop, the Aiken County Sheriff's Office said.
AIKEN, S.C. (AP) — A sheriff’s deputy in South Carolina has been fired after he shot at a car trying to drive away from a traffic stop, the Aiken County Sheriff’s Office said.
Deputy Christopher Williams violated the agency’s use of force policy, the sheriff’s office said Thursday in a statement.
The shot hit the back of the fleeing car and no one was injured, state agents said.
The woman who drove away from the stop faces drug and failing to stop for a blue light charges, authorities said.
Information to contact Williams could not be found.
The State Law Enforcement Division is investigating the shooting.
South Carolina had a rash of incidents of police officers shooting at moving cars about a decade ago, leading state police to increase training for officers on how to approach cars from the side.
The training also emphasized the danger of firing at a moving car to anyone else in the area and that unless the driver is a known felon or behaving dangerously, it is safer to get a license tag number and find them later.
