Death by Cop 2021-2025
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Name Not Disclosed
Age :
Gender : Male
Race : Unknown
Date : 04/04/2021
Location : I-26/SC-121, Exit 72
City : Newberry
County : Newberry
State : South Carolina
Agency : Newberry County Sheriff’s Office
Officer(s) :Not Disclosed
Cause of Death : Suicide
Event : Suicide under police duress during armed encounter
OPEN RECORDS SUMMARY :
On 04/04/2021, an unidentified man died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound during an encounter with Newberry County Sheriff’s Office deputies near the I-26/SC-121 interchange. At approximately 4:30 a.m., dispatchers received a report of a silver SUV traveling west on I-26 on a wheel rim, producing sparks. A second caller at the Citgo station at Exit 72 reported a man acting suspiciously and appearing intoxicated.
Deputies found a silver Kia Sorento with temporary Georgia tags and one wheel reduced to the rim. They searched the area and at approximately 6:30 a.m. found the man sitting at the edge of woods near the store.
According to the sheriff’s office, deputies asked the man to come out of the woods. Police alleged that he stood, pulled a handgun from a jacket pocket and moved the firearm around while deputies took cover and ordered him to drop it. He then retreated into the woods and took cover in a ravine. Deputies attempted to communicate with him while a tactical team and K-9 personnel were summoned.
A gunshot was subsequently heard. Deputies approached behind a tactical shield and found the man with a semiautomatic handgun and a gunshot wound. Emergency personnel found no vital signs. Sheriff Lee Foster stated that no deputy fired a weapon during the encounter.
The South Carolina Law Enforcement Division was requested to investigate because the death occurred during an encounter with deputies.
OFFICER BACKGROUND:
No Newberry County sheriff’s deputy fired a weapon during the fatal encounter. The individual deputies were not publicly identified in the available reporting.
