By John Monk
The State
FLORENCE COUNTY, S.C. — Florence County Sheriff T.J. Joye on Friday released a deputy’s body camera and dashcam videos showing the deputy shooting an unarmed suspect and, at the same time, the deputy’s unleashed police dog mauling an innocent homeowner.
Joye said in a statement he was releasing the videos in the interest of “openness and transparency” in the controversial May 26 fatal shooting of a suspect and the simultaneous mauling of an innocent man who was in the mobile home that the suspect had dashed into.
The videos show former Deputy Treyvon Sellers on a high-speed chase that apparently ended in a crash and the harrowing aftermath, when Sellers pursues on foot the fleeing driver, identified as William Rankin, into a rural mobile home with his unleashed police dog, Ikar. The video then shows a dark room with the homeowner on the floor, gripped by the police dog, and then Sellers firing five shots at a man — the apparent fugitive — in a white T-shirt on a couch.
Sellers was pursuing Rankin on East National Cemetery Road in a rural area east of the city of Florence because Rankin was driving recklessly, according to a warrant in the case.
The time from when Sellers jumps out his vehicle, chases Rankin up wooden steps and into the mobile home, and finds him reclining on a couch and shoots him, is about 45 seconds. Between exiting the car and shooting Rankin, Sellers alternates between yelling at Rankin to “Get on the ground” and shouting at the dog.
At the mobile home, Sellers opens a closed door, doesn’t announce that he is law enforcement and goes through a kitchen area. Entering a darkened room, he sees Rankin on a couch, tells him not to move and then shoots him twice apparently without provocation. Then, after a pause, Sellers shoots him three more times. The room is dark, and Sellers is using his flashlight.
Meanwhile, homeowner Johnny Cooper, who has been grabbed by the dog, is moaning with pain and begging for the dog to stop.
“Help me, I live here,” Cooper cries. “Please sir, help me. Please God, help me! Please take the dog off me. I didn’t do nothing.”
A affidavit attached to a warrant in the case said Sellers gave the dog the “apprehend” command with “reckless disregard” to the risk of substantial harm to another person. Cooper was mauled for approximately 87 seconds, the affidavit said.
Sellers, 29, has since been fired from the department. Joye asked the South Carolina State Law enforcement Division to conduct an independent investigation.
On Wednesday, SLED charged Sellers with manslaughter in the shooting death of Rankin, 42, and assault and battery of a high and aggravated nature in the mauling of Cooper, 72. Sellers is now in the Florence County detention center being held without bond. He is also charged with misconduct.
Robert E. Lee, a Florence attorney who represents Cooper, said his client — who has chronic obstructive pulmonary disorder and weighs about 105 pounds — had gone to a window to see what was happening when the police dog, a Belgian Malanois that weighed about 90 pounds, bounded into his living room.
“It sees my client standing, and it perceives him as the danger, and it takes him down,” said Lee, who has viewed the video. “My client is begging him to call the dog off, crying and then he starts to pray at the end because he knows he’s going to die.”
“At first, doctors believed Cooper was going to lose his left arm, but they have been able to save it,” Lee said. “But they aren’t sure how much use he’ll have of his arm, if any.”
The deputy then gave the command, “Here! Here! Here!” so the dog starts to drag Cooper instead of releasing him, Lee said.
“Nobody can blame the dog,” Lee said. “It’s 100% the fault of the handler.”
Attorney Chaquez McCall, who represents Rankin’s family, was traveling and not immediately available for comment.
The sheriff’s office released the video with the knowledge and consent of the Rankin and Cooper families, a spokesman said.
Lee said Joye is upset about the situation.
“I’ve seen him in tears over this,” said Lee, adding the sheriff wants to get all the facts out to the public, as unpleasant as they are. “He said, ‘I’m not going to hide this and make people think that I’m covering up for some officer.”
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