My Other Favorite Sheriff

Charleston County, SC

It's rare you meet a down to earth guy who started out as a patrol officer in a big city....just like you.
He worked the streets, made the arrests, did the paperwork, went to court...just like you.  He did all the same things you did. Now, he's the Sheriff of one of the largest counties in the state, having earned a sterling reputation of honesty and integrity.
Even when he was Chief of what was then, a fledgling department, he ran calls and was at your back when you least expected it. A highly intelligent man, known for speaking his mind and looking out for the line officers. If you deserved it, you would get an ass chewing and he'd tell you why you deserved it. If you did something great, he'd tell you that too. He did it face to face, without threats or intimidation. He remembered every officer's first name. It was a well known fact that he despised terminating people.

To fully appreciate the Sheriff's qualifications, follow this link.  


It's also rare that the Sheriff of a large county finds himself in a police chase. Little did this reckless driver realize that he almost killed the Sheriff. The Sheriff then went in pursuit of the suspect. Speeds reached 120 mph and the Sheriff's SUV puttered at a mere 95 mph. Attempts to stop this clown with stop sticks proved futile and he continued on his rampage of running people off the road and acting with a total disregard for human life and property.

The Sheriff was finally able to corner the suspect at the end of a dirt road. Surprisingly, the Sheriff popped off 9 rounds at the vehicle tires, trying not to injure or kill the guy. It worked. The vehicle was disabled and the suspect apprehended.

I never would have believed it either. Then again, Sheriff Cannon is also known for his determination.

http://www.postandcourier.com/news/2012/jan/31/sheriff-in-wild-25-mile-chase/

Nice work, Sheriff!

White Trash Day

Lexington County, SC

This lovely couple were being detained in different police cars for stealing items from a parked car outside a convenience store.

Thomas Burke, 46, got a bit rowdy in the back of the squad car and started kicking the window. He breaks the window and while several cops are dealing with his dumb ass antics, his lovely companion, Regina Watts, 48, started her own path of destruction.


Ms. Watts slipped her handcuffs and put them down her pants. She then went on the rampage, tearing apart equipment in the police car. She pulled wires, bent the radio and antennas and then....
she had an epiphany in her drunken, Valium induced state. She urinated and defecated on the floorboard of the police car. How lady like.

There are some things that leave a cop speechless and this is one of them. All kinds of thoughts go through your mind;
You wonder how you're going to explain this to the Sarge. You've got a prisoner who slipped her cuffs and had the potential to escape, there's 2 police cars virtually disabled and one  prisoner no one will want to touch. You won't live this one down for weeks. And then, how do you move or even clean the car without yaking up your lunch?

Combative prisoners, even damaging the window....all been done before. The slipping of the handcuffs.  Been done. The defecating AND urinating in the patrol car -- pretty rare. When that happens, it's usually in their own pants. No one will ever want to drive that car again.

Life as a cop.....the fun never stops.

http://www.thestate.com/2012/01/27/2131058/pelion-couple-damages-police-cars.html

Councilman Calls for Sheriff to Renounce his 2nd Amendment push

My favorite Sheriff, Chuck Wright of Spartanburg County, SC

recently encouraged women to go out and get their concealed weapons permits. He did this because of  recent attacks on women.

(See my post of Sheriff Says Women Should Carry Guns)

When he made this statement, he made it more than once and stood his ground. He did not waiver and he had the backing of the local solicitor's office and even the Governor.
As a direct result of his very public statements, over 600 people from that county recently applied for their concealed carry permits.

One lone, stupid, naive Democrat on county council this week made a news release denouncing Sheriff Wright's actions as irresponsible. WTF? Councilman Michael Brown  believes that the Sheriff's ideas of allowing citizens to legally arm themselves is promoting lawlessness.  Councilman Brown seems to think that more time should be spent counseling at risk youth.  BWAAAA!  I believe many of you laugh with me and you do so for so many obvious reasons.

Mr. Brown has his head in the sand. Ah, on second thought, maybe it's in his ass.
The 2nd amendment is a powerful thing and the Sheriff believes in a person's Constitutional right to bear arms.
He's also a realist. There is no way that the police can protect us all 24/7 and, according to the US Supreme Court, they have no duty to.
Perhaps Mr. Brown should read this document:
http://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/09pdf/08-1521.pdf

The city of Chicago and the District of Columbia tried banning guns and look what happened to them. They became the most lawless cities in the US.

Nope, the Sheriff of any county has a duty to preserve and protect the Constitution of the US and that includes upholding both the 2nd and 14th amendment, as well as all applicable state laws.

Thumbs up to Sheriff Wright for being a man who tells it like it is!

Burglar Gets a Bullet

North Charleston, SC

When will the bad guys with guns learn? They just don't get it. More and more people are arming themselves against the criminal element and rightfully so.
I don't know about anywhere else, but in South Carolina, there's been a spurt of law abiding armed citizens fighting back.

The bad guys are too stupid to watch the news or read. Too bad. They might learn something.
What would they learn? They might learn that if they are in the act of committing a dangerous felony, that the homeowner could shoot back and they could die.  Oh yes, the homeowner or the victim of a crime such as this, who actually had to use deadly force, is immune from criminal prosecution and from any civil action. Imagine that...the victim has a few rights.

In this particular incident, a man is taking a nap when a neighbor calls to alert him of 2 guys breaking in to his apartment. He confronts the 2 burglars going through his kitchen cabinets. One burglar is armed and points a gun directly at him. He flees upstairs and gets his own gun. He comes downstairs and shoots one of the burglars. They both fled in a car. As luck would have it, their driving sucked enough to draw the attention of the po-po.
Naturally, they were most reluctant to stop for the police. After all, one guy has a gun shot wound and there's a stolen gun in the car. Oh yes, let's not forget the burglary.  Dumb shits. They're lucky they're not dead.

And here's a shocking statistic, the bumbling burglars are both black males, 18 and 19 years of age.

http://www.live5news.com/story/16597438/shooting-north-charleston

CWP Holder Shoots Armed Robber

Spartanburg, SC


Anyone who has spent any time in the southeast knows all about the Waffle House. They're open 7 days a week, 24 hours a day, and on all holidays. They still use the old fashioned, short order cook language, with the waitress and the cook bantering back and forth.
A particular bit of Waffle House slang was an inspiration for a Hootie and the Blowfish album titled "Scattered, Covered and Smothered." The WH definition is 'scattered' on the grill, 'covered' in onions, and 'smothered' in cheese. Oh yea, their food is a heart attack looking for a place to happen.
But there's always their famous coffee and sweet tea....which is always free to first responders.

And considering they are open 24/7, the customers and clientele are always varied. From cops, truckers, blue collar workers, and of course, the after night club crowd. With that last thought, some Waffle Houses have been forced to hire off duty cops on Friday and Saturday nights just to deter some of the problems associated with alcohol consumption. So it seems pretty clear that there's always someone in a Waffle House.

It is said that if there is a Waffle House open following a disaster, it's a positive sign that things are recovering. It's a sign of normalcy. An oasis in the middle of a desert.

Imagine some moronic thug and his friend who hatch this ingenious plan to rob a Waffle House. It tends to conjure up hilarious laughter from cops. Even if a robbery or other crime went down successfully, I have found that waitresses and cooks have pretty good memories and take criminal matters upon their turf rather personally.

So here we have 2 black male thugs who attempt to rob a Waffle House at 1:15 a.m.
A customer in the restaurant was a concealed weapon permit holder and he was armed. The permit holder attempted to detain the robber at gun point until the arrival of police. However, one robber was stupid enough to point his handgun at the permit holder. 19 year old Dante Lamont Williams was shot and killed by this armed law abiding citizen. He was shot once in the head and once in the chest. The other robber fled the scene.

According to the Law Abiding Citizen's Self Defense Act, and the Protection of Persons and Property Act, the CWP holder has the right to employ deadly force in self defense, defense of a third person, or to prevent the commission of a dangerous felony.
Williams and his cohort were clearly armed and presenting a threat. What I see is that a law abiding citizen took the appropriate action necessary to eliminate a threat. Unless the CWP holder violated the terms or conditions in their permit, (for example, the Waffle House could have had a sign prohibiting concealed weapons upon their premises), then it is clear that the CWP holder not only acted within the legal limits of the law, he also did the world a favor.

A Night of Foolishness

Most of the time, I pick a story and run with it. Usually I'm just ranting on about what's wrong in the world or oddities I come across. Sometimes people tell me stories and I might share it with you. I do love a good story, bizarre and otherwise.

It was late on Sunday. Generally speaking, a night that's rather chilly outside does help keep the roaches inside. Sunday night had a weird aura about it. Maybe because of the Monday holiday or maybe there was just something in the air. It seemed like every call involved alcohol, juveniles, and the weird and stupid.

It was kind of a chilly night for the southeast. The temps were hovering around freezing so what people that were out, they were bundled up.
Last night, the flag-me-down light was lit on the patrol car. At least 4 times, people waved us down as we were randomly patrolling.

For instance; It's 11:30 p.m. and we spot a w/m juvie loitering around the parking lot of a closed drugstore. He waves at us. We pull off to speak with him and then 3 more younger kids on bicycles come out from the side of the building. The one that waved us down was the oldest and 15 yoa. He apparently didn't mean to wave us over to him. While we're talking to him, we notice he's got a wad of tobacco wedged in his cheek. He's also wearing braces. My partner makes him dump the can and spit out the crap in his mouth. How can his orthodontist not notice that? All the kids have their own phones so we get an adult from one of them. An 18 year old brother comes to pick them up some 20 mins later. It's cold out and all of them were wearing some kind of camoflauge hunting gear. They looked like a bunch of mini me rednecks.
They really weren't a major problem and had respectful attitudes...but my kids sure as hell wouldn't be out at this time of night, school night or not.

We get flagged down at a gas station some 20 mins later by 2 w/m's who were gassing up. We recognize one as an arrest from the week before for being loud, wasted and stupid. He's whining like a girl because his former girlfriend got on his Facebook page, posted a nasty status update, changed his Facebook password and did the same on his yahoo email account. After she did all that, she sent him a text taunting him. If the idiot hadn't given her his passwords, it never would have happened. Nothing criminal yet. Sorry about your luck.
Funny. He's wearing camo pants and his buddy is wearing a camo vest.
Wear your camo day! No one told us.

We all know that jurisdictions can often be a puzzle. Sometimes you have to go outside your jurisdiction to get to the other side, or maybe your jurisdiction is one side of the street. We're passing a cemetery at 1:30 a.m. and a car's tail lights catch our eye. We turn around and enter the cemetery. Sad but true fact... the bronze vases and other statuary are often stolen and taken to scrap yards for the cash. Scrap yard dealers don't care where it came from. Even though we're very sure the cemetery is not in our jurisdiction, we pull in behind a mini van. We ask dispatch to call the proper jurisdiction, but we light them up and approach, seeing 3, maybe 4 people inside the van. We shine our lights around inside and don't see much of anything that would indicate criminal activity. We start asking questions of their reasons for being there and got a crazy ass answer. They show us some electronic equipment and a cell phone app. They were ghost hunters! Too funny not to believe from a couple of pimple faced geeks.
We cancel the back up and tell them to leave. We laugh hysterically and try to tell dispatch what we just did without sounding like giggly little girls.

About 2 a.m. and we're sitting at a traffic light minding our own business when some old guy over at the local Stop n Rob is yelling, "HEY MR. POLEECE!" We do our civic duty and make a u-turn. It becomes apparent that our number one fan is wearing a good many layers of clothes and is not so coordinated. He can't wave his arms and walk at the same time. It puts him off balance and he falls. All those layers of clothes protects him though, as he barely notices and bounces right back up like it's an every day occurrence. We get up close with the car. We get 10 feet away from him and we give each other that silent look. You know, that certain "oh, shit" look partners give each other when they know that the last thing they wanted to deal with tonight was a slobbering, smelly drunk. Yea, we both have to get our asses out of the car and freeze while talking to this drunken fool. The guy's a mumbler and we hear every other word, and that word we do hear jumps about 10 decibels. He's a wobblin' and holding on to the car to steady himself. We finally get that the Stop n Rob was not hospitable to him and ejected him from the premises. He was indeed insulted. Of course, when you're dealing with a smelly drunk, they always want to get up close and personal, and they want you to give them a ride. Stupid ass doesn't even remember how he got there. As luck would have it, we were able to contact someone who got him in about 20 minutes. WHEW! Crisis averted.

Some of you have laptops in your car and there's those rare occasions that they actually work. The DMV goes down, the server is slow...blah, blah. You shut it down, you sign back in. No luck. When this happens, you have to do it the old-fashioned way. Call the dispatcher on the radio and run it. The dispatchers know who has computers in their cars and who doesn't. Sometimes it's kind of boring and someone needs to liven things up. We ran a guy's DL number the other day and well, we were saving this one for a special occasion. We gave the dispatcher the DL number. Within seconds, the dispatcher is attempting to pronounce an Indian first name that is about 15 characters long. She tries it twice and then catches on by saying, "you have it on your screen, don't you?" We will, of course, be paying for that one.

It's 3 a.m. and most everyone with any sense is inside some place warm. Oh Christ! Wal-mart is open 24/7.
Oh no....a shoplifter on a motorized shopping cart. Hot pursuit. It was a harrowing and exhausting chase, but we caught our man. He did not want to go to jail.
And get this, the very large larcenous lunatic was wearing a green camouflage hat.

Seriously?

Lancaster, SC

Seriously? Are you that stupid? You're a sworn law enforcement officer so you have to know that today's technology won't allow you to get away with much.

Kenneth Perdue

36 year old former Deputy Kenneth Perdue here of the Lancaster County Sheriff's office, must have thought that being on duty, in uniform, and driving his patrol car wouldn't get him noticed. Stealing $500. worth of ceramic tiles from a house under construction falls in to the "Are you that freakin' stupid?" category.

Things are tough out there and I would love to renovate my kitchen for free, but I sure as hell am not going out there and steal the products to make it happen. I need my job too much to pay those other bills.

Needless to say, the Sheriff of Lancaster County is quite embarrassed by the incident, and rightfully so.
Dude! You're a freakin idiot!

A Medic's Misstep

It just seems like there's a sudden epidemic of molesting medics or maybe the latest idea for a lawsuit on a government agency. Maybe I've had my head in the sand, or maybe these stories have always been shielded from the media. But here's yet another case of a medic copping a cheap feel on a patient while in the back of an EMS wagon.

Anthony Green

 Mr. Green here has been employed with EMS since 1999.
After 13 years on the same job, why risk so much for so little?
It's quite true that some men don't always "think" about the long term consequences of their short term sexual needs.



One also has to wonder about the other side of the coin. Is it just another case of a woman crying foul for a settlement?

Since law enforcement has gone to using cameras, perhaps the emergency medical services might have to start considering the same thing. It comes down to 2 people in the back of a truck. Does patient privacy outweigh the need for any accusations of improprieties?

One way or another, this guy's in a world of shit.
And he's in a world of shit because he not only admitted it, but they have DNA evidence that supports her claim.

Feds Dragging their Feet

Does the title of this story come as a surprise to you? It's what the feds do best.

Let's revisit previous blog entries concerning these small, sleepy little towns known as
Cottageville, SC and Eutawville, SC

From newest to oldest, the blog entries I refer to are;

Cottageville Officer Officially Terminated
Another Plot Twist
Another Officer Involved Shooting Going to the Feds
Officer Involved Shooting Brings Feds
Gypsy Cops and Small Town Politics


Around the middle of last year they both experienced officer involved shootings perpetrated by officers known as "gypsy cops."
The definition of a "gypsy cop" is basically an itinerant law officer who floats from one department to another, usually after short terms of employment. The officer's employment history is sometimes peppered with accusations and complaints that probably resulted in a 'resignation' or a termination that didn't warrant the revocation of their certification. Quite often, these gypsy cops wind up at small departments that have small budgets and salaries to match. Small towns normally can't afford to pay to put an officer through the mandatory training/academy so find themselves as a magnet for the gypsies.

Off. Randy Price and former Mayor Bert Reeves

The shooting in Cottageville, SC has many layers of controversy. A gypsy cop by the name of Randy Price fatally shot the former town mayor while they were on an isolated dirt road. No one knows why they were there and what transpired. There were no witnesses. The former mayor had a history of driving violations with one reckless driving incident almost costing him his life due to a traumatic brain injury. Blood tests revealed that he was under the influence of marijuana at the time of the accident. Reeves was involved in a highly publicized domestic dispute, with his wife obtaining a restraining order.  He was also noted for being caught on tape telling officers to write more tickets to ensure their own salary. Reeves took pride in the fact that his little town was known for being a speed trap.
Officer Randy Price had 8 law enforcement jobs in 11 years. This article details his work history.
Some of Price's employment history also plays out like a serial drama.

As with all officer involved shootings in SC, they are investigated by the State Law Enforcement Division. (SLED) Once their investigation was concluded, SLED turned it over to the state's chief prosecutor.

The chief prosecutor for the 14th judicial circuit, Duffie Stone, has written a letter to US Attorney Bill Nettles asking for a federal grand jury.  Stone's letter read in part, “Due to the complex nature of this investigation I am asking that your office use the investigative abilities of the federal grand jury to assume the investigation and prosecution of this matter."  

That's where it was left.

And now, rumors are swirling around in this small town. The present mayor of Cottageville is the former mayor's aunt. It is reported that she sent an email to other council members that she had received a "verbal" report from SLED that the investigation was over and that Randy Price would be exonerated of all charges. SLED states that no such thing has happened and that the investigation is still under review by the feds.
The feds have released no information whatsoever on a case that's been pending for about 8 months.

Over to Eutawville, SC

In May 2011, the former police chief, Ricky Combs, shot and killed retired corrections officer, Bernard Bailey outside of town hall, allegedly in a dispute over a traffic ticket written to his daughter. This case had some racial implications because the police chief is white and Bailey is black. The family called for patience and were reluctant to call it any kind of racially motivated issue. Although the NAACP and 500 others were ready to call it that.
This case was also investigated by SLED and then suddenly, the Dept. of Justice picked up the ball, essentially bypassing the state's prosecutor.

In November, the mayor of Eutawville announced a new police chief had been hired for the town. The details of Ricky Combs' departure have never been released. He too, had a history of being a nomad cop. Although his was not as extensive as Randy Price's.

So when will the feds get off their asses and make a decision on these cases?  I'm willing to bet that the feds will release their findings about the time the snow melts in Alaska.

Home Invader Meets Shotgun

Blanchard, OK

The headlines read: "Oklahoma woman shoots and kills intruder; 911 says it's ok to shoot."
Well, that's not what the 911 dispatcher said. She said, "I can't tell you that you can do that, but you do what you have to do to protect your baby."
That statement does not in any way indicate that the dispatcher was giving permission for the young mother to shoot and kill the burglars. She was obviously being non committal, as is her job.
But in the end, the mother did indeed do what she had to do to protect her 3 month old son.
I love how the media puts that twisted little spin on things.

Facts are; On Dec. 31 at 2:00 p.m., 18 year old Sarah McKinley was alone in the trailer with her baby.
2 men were attempting to break in to her residence, one of which was armed with a large hunting knife.
Ms. McKinley put the baby in a rear bedroom with a bottle, and then armed herself with a handgun and a shotgun while she called 911 from her cell phone. She stayed on the line with the dispatcher while the burglars continued their efforts to forcibly open the door.
Once the door went down, and the first suspect began his unlawful entry, Ms. McKinley racked off one shotgun blast to the first intruder, striking him in the upper torso. He died still clutching the hunting knife. The other intruder ran like hell. He later turned himself in to police. McKinley believes that one of those men had recently begun stalking her.

McKinley was forced to take the life of another in an effort to protect herself and her child. The state of Oklahoma is a Castle Doctrine state. She used deadly force during the commission of a dangerous felony and she had no duty to retreat. She stood her ground and defended her castle. Good girl!
If that were not enough drama, just the week before she lost her husband to cancer.

She will not be prosecuted for any crime. What jury in the world would indict a woman protecting her child...Castle Doctrine or not?

Not only will the remaining suspect be charged with burglary for the unlawful entry, but he will also be charged with murder for causing the death of his accomplice.

In case you hadn't noticed, I'm a fan of the Castle Doctrine.
Aristotle once said, "Law is order, and good law is good order." Nothing like a good law to serve justice.

Blanchard Mother Shoots And Kills Intruder - Video - KOCO Oklahoma City

Barber Shoots Robber

Columbia, SC

In case you haven't noticed, South Carolina is a red state. Yep, we're kind of like dem folks in Texas.
It's not that we do things bigger and better, it's just that we're a lot alike.
We have the death penalty. Of course we don't expedite the death penalty process as quickly as Texas, but we're working on that.

We stand firmly on our 2nd Amendment Right to Bear Arms. Just like Texas, you can even own a gun in your home or place of business and you don't need a permit. You don't need a permit to even have it in a closed compartment of your vehicle. (There are some exemptions regarding those under 21 and convicted felons)
Just like Texas, we have the Castle Doctrine.

The Castle Doctrine plainly states that you have no duty to retreat in your home or place of business. You can stand your ground and protect yourself and your property, especially during the commission of a dangerous felony.  Armed robbery would fall under the dangerous felony category, and well, why the hell should I have to run away or retreat? I'm going to defend my castle, dammit!

Case in point, 2 armed robbers enter a small business enterprise, namely a barber shop, and try to rob the store owner. The store owner pulls out a gun of his own and shoots one of the robbers. The other flees. Well, both are captured and are either in jail or going there soon.

Unless the business owner is someone who is prohibited under law from owning or possessing a firearm, he acted within the legal limits of the law.

1 outta 2 ain't bad.