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A reported shooting involving two Greenville County, South Carolina sheriff’s office deputies has not been properly referred to the S.C. State Law Enforcement Division (SLED) for investigation, sources familiar with the alleged incident told this news outlet.
The alleged incident reportedly occurred during a recent training exercise. The two officers said to have been involved were both K9 deputies, our sources confirmed. At least one of these officers sustained a wound to the “lower leg,” according to one source.
SLED’s public information office confirmed that as of 10:00 a.m. EST on Sunday morning, no request for investigatory assistance had been received from Greenville County regarding any incident involving its deputies.
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SLED investigates officer-involved shootings as a matter of protocol in the vast majority of local law enforcement jurisdictions in the Palmetto State – presenting independent, investigative reports to the solicitor with jurisdiction over the county or municipality where the shooting transpired.
Unfortunately, this is not standard operating procedure in all 46 South Carolina counties – and legislation attempting to make it so has failed to clear the S.C. General Assembly in recent years.
Messages and calls to the Greenville County sheriff’s office did not immediately generate an on-the-record response. Obviously, this news outlet will incorporate any official statement we receive into our coverage – and will extend our open microphone to sheriff Hobart Lewis in the event he wishes to address the situation.
This is a developing story … please check back for updates.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR …
Will Folks is the founding editor of the news outlet you are currently reading. Prior to founding FITSNews, he served as press secretary to the governor of South Carolina. He lives in the Midlands region of the state with his wife and seven children.
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