04/04/17 Pendleton, SC – Domestic Call – Man In Underwear Charged At Officer – Suspect Tased – Stole Patrol Car – Shot By Officer – Crashed Into Tree – Suspect Dead

April 4, 2017

thestate.com

The Anderson County Coroner’s Office was called to the scene of an officer-involved shooting on Woodland Circle in Pendleton on Monday night.

A 46-year-old man in his underwear was shot more than once by a Pendleton officer after 7 p.m., Coroner Greg Shore said.

He said there is no indication that the man who was fatally shot had any criminal record, and the man’s wife said he had not been known to act in that way. The man’s name has not been released pending notification of additional family members.

Shore said the man’s neighbors reported to police that he was acting erratically, including beating a window of their home. The man’s wife and child had left shortly before that because of a fight, Shore said.

When an officer arrived to respond to the neighbors’ call, the man ran toward the officer, who used a Taser. The man went into the officer’s patrol car and put it in reverse. The vehicle went less than 200 yards before striking a tree, Shore said.

Pendleton Police Chief Doyle Burdette told reporters late Monday night that the officer, whose name he did not use, was called to a domestic violence incident and encountered a man in the road who charged at him. Burdette said the officer gave several commands that were not heeded.

The chief said the officer has been placed on administrative leave, in accordance with department policy.

“The situation escalated quickly, causing the officer to have to discharge his weapon at least once,” Burdette said.

The man died as a result of gunshot wounds, and an autopsy is scheduled for Tuesday, the coroner said. Witnesses have been identified and have talked to investigators, Shore said.

The officer was wearing a body camera that apparently was functioning at the time of the shooting, Shore said. The coroner said he had not seen the footage.

Woodland Circle is a hilly road in a neighborhood of mostly single-family homes in the Dogwood Heights subdivision.

The South Carolina Law Enforcement Division is investigating the shooting as well. Thom Berry, a spokesman for SLED, said that agency was notified around 8 p.m. The Anderson County Sheriff’s Office is assisting in the investigation, spokeswoman Nikki Carson said.

The town of Pendleton reformed its police department last August after a 10-year hiatus in which law enforcement calls in the community were handled by the Sheriff’s Office. This is the first officer-involved shooting involving the department since it was reformed. When it resumed work last year, the department’s personnel included Burdette, Cpl. Tony Glenn and Cpl. John Marano.

The Monday night incident is the first officer-involved shooting in Anderson County this year. There were two officer-involved shootings in the county in 2016.