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Kevin Young
GoGamecocks.com
Special prosecutor named in Young case
First circuit takes over case against two police officers accused of using excessive force
The state’s attorney general has appointed a special prosecutor in the case of the two Columbia police officers accused of using excessive force against South Carolina offensive lineman Kevin Young.
First Circuit solicitor David Pascoe has taken over for the Fifth Circuit solicitor’s office, which said it would be a conflict to prosecute cops from a police department that investigates many of the Fifth Circuit’s cases.
Pascoe, whose circuit covers Orangeburg, Calhoun and Dorchester counties, said his office has begun its own investigation of the case, which stems from an incident in Five Points last March.
Officers Roger Gilland and David Beddingfield Jr. were indicted in August following a three-month SLED investigation into claims that cops punched Young repeatedly and bloodied his nose responding to a fight between Young and a West Columbia man outside a Five Points bar.
The indictments state the officers used excessive force to arrest the 6-foot-5, 312-pound Young, then misrepresented the facts regarding the incident. Gilland and Beddingfield, who have been suspended without pay from the force since being indicted, face a year in prison and $1,000 fine if convicted.
Pascoe, a former Fifth Circuit prosecutor, said his investigator has begun re-interviewing witnesses from the SLED investigation and talking with other people who might have seen what happened.
“We have done a lot of work on it,” Pascoe said Thursday. “We’re already coming up on a year. I’m going to try to expedite it the best I can.”
No trial date has been set, although Leigh Leventis, Gilland’s attorney, believes it will be resolved next month.
Moving out. USC defensive lineman Clark Gaston, who quit the team around midseason, has transferred to Wofford. Gaston, who played in two games in three years with the Gamecocks, has two seasons of eligibility remaining.
Gaston, a redshirt sophomore from Cleveland, Tenn., came to USC as a fullback before moving to tight end and ending his career on the defensive line. Gaston said he does not believe he was given a “fair chance” to earn playing time on offense.
Receiver Freddie Brown also plans to transfer and will play his final season elsewhere after he graduates in August, his father said. Brown was one of several fourth-year players with eligibility remaining who participated in Senior Day activities before the Arkansas game, signaling the end of their USC careers.
Brown caught seven passes for 66 yards this past season.
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