No charges for officers in fatal South Carolina shooting

Jun 14, 2022, 3:56 PM | Updated: 6:46 pm

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — A prosecutor in South Carolina decided Tuesday not to charge two police officers in the fatal shooting of a Black man who lunged at them with a broken piece of wood from a chair after family members warned them the victim was mentally ill.

The Richland County deputies were justified to shoot Irvin Moorer Charley because he was a danger to the officers and family members who called police to their home, initially telling them Charley was armed with a knife, Solicitor Byron Gipson said in a statement.

Gipson called the shooting “reasonably necessary” based on Charley’s “unfortunate response” to lunge at the officers with the stick, which they thought was a sharpened stake.

“The use of force was applied in good faith based upon the perceptions of a reasonably trained officer and the objectively reasonable facts the officer had at the time of the incident,” Gipson said.

The deputies are white. Gipson, the elected prosecutor for Richland County, is Black.

Lawyers for Charley’s family said in a text message Tuesday that the family would hold a news conference later to respond to Gipson’s decision.

The family was unhappy because the Richland County Sheriff’s Department investigated the shooting by its own deputies. Sheriff Leon Lott said his investigators had the expertise and temperament to fairly investigate their fellow officers and Gipson would review the findings.

Gipson said he had two professors who are police force experts from the University of South Carolina review the evidence too, but he didn’t include any of their comments or findings in his statement.

Deputies were called to the home outside Columbia on March 19 by someone who said Charley was attacking his mother. Body camera video showed Charley’s brother telling the first officer to arrive that Charley was mentally ill and had a knife, which he quickly corrected to scissors while saying, “don’t shoot or nothing. He don’t got no gun.”

Body camera footage showed the first deputy, John Anderson, pointing his gun at Charley after he suddenly came out of a house with a piece of wood with what appeared to have a pointed end. He told the deputy “y’all can shoot me.” A second deputy, Zachary Hentz, arrived about the same time and shot Charley with a Taser, but he had no reaction.

Charley then charged at Hentz, who fired his gun seven times while backpedaling, stumbling on his back about the same time Charley fell bleeding to the ground.

The sheriff’s department initially only released a 15-second clip with Charley walking at the deputy, saying the shooting itself was “just not something everyone needs to see.” They then released the dashboard camera video that showed the shooting from a distance, but when the family held a news conference suggesting deputies were hiding evidence, the sheriff’s department released the full 13 minutes of body camera footage.

The footage primarily showed the deputies doing CPR on a bloody Charley as his head wobbled uncontrollably back and forth with each chest compression.

The day after the shooting, the sheriff said he thought his deputies did the right thing.

“We can’t expect these deputies to go out here and be killed,” Lott said. “They have to protect themselves. And that’s what this deputy did yesterday. He protected himself.”

___

Follow Jeffrey Collins on Twitter at https://twitter.com/JSCollinsAP.

Copyright © The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

AP

This photo provided by Robert Wilkes, owner of a house boat management company, shows smoke rising ...

Associated Press

Houseboats catch fire while docked at Wahweap Marina on Lake Powell

More than half a dozen house boats momentarily caught fire at a popular boating destination on the Utah-Arizona line on Friday.

3 days ago

File - Women work in a restaurant kitchen in Chicago, Thursday, March 23, 2023. On Friday, the U.S....

Associated Press

US hiring, unemployment jump in May and what that says about the economy

The nation’s employers stepped up their hiring in May, adding a robust 339,000 jobs, well above expectations.

3 days ago

(Pixabay Photo)...

Associated Press

Oath Keeper from Arizona sentenced for role in Jan. 6 riot at US Capitol

Edward Vallejo, a U.S. Army veteran from Phoenix, oversaw a “Quick Reaction Force” at a Virginia hotel that was prepared to deploy an arsenal of weapons into Washington if needed, authorities say.

4 days ago

FILE - U.S. Border Patrol Chief Raul Ortiz listens during a news conference, Jan. 5, 2023, in Washi...

Associated Press

US Border Patrol chief is retiring after seeing through end of Title 42 immigration restrictions

The head of the U.S. Border Patrol announced Tuesday that he was retiring, after seeing through a major policy shift that seeks to clamp down on illegal crossings at the U.S.-Mexico border following the end of Title 42 pandemic restrictions.

5 days ago

FILE - President Joe Biden talks with House Speaker Kevin McCarthy of Calif., on the House steps as...

Associated Press

House OKs debt ceiling bill to avoid default, sends Biden-McCarthy deal to Senate

The House approved a debt ceiling and budget cuts package late Wednesday, as President Joe Biden and Speaker Kevin McCarthy assembled a bipartisan coalition of centrist Democrats and Republicans against fierce conservative blowback and progressive dissent.

5 days ago

Sean Bickings (Family Photo via city of Tempe)...

Associated Press

Family of man who drowned last year in Tempe Town Lake files wrongful death lawsuit

The family of a man who drowned in Tempe Town Lake a year ago filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the city Wednesday, noting that its police department doesn't have a policy requiring officers to go into the water to save someone.

5 days ago

Sponsored Articles

...

Desert Institute for Spine Care

Spinal fusion surgery has come a long way, despite misconceptions

As Dr. Justin Field of the Desert Institute for Spine Care explained, “we've come a long way over the last couple of decades.”

...

re:vitalize

Why drug-free weight loss still matters

Wanting to lose weight is a common goal for many people as they progress throughout life, but choosing between a holistic approach or to take medicine can be a tough decision.

(Photo by Michael Matthey/picture alliance via Getty Images)...

Cox Communications

Valley Boys & Girls Club uses esports to help kids make healthy choices

KTAR’s Community Spotlight focuses on the Boys & Girls Club of the Valley and the work to incorporate esports into children's lives.

No charges for officers in fatal South Carolina shooting