Seemingly dead man leads deputies on a chase in Midlands county, sheriff says

After a strange series of events, a Kershaw County deputy saved a driver who was seemingly dead, according to a sheriff’s office statement.

Deputies were called out Wednesday after receiving reports of an impaired driver in an Ford F-150 heading across U.S. 1, according to the statement.

Deputies caught up with the truck, attempting to stop it, according to the statement. The driver, an elderly white man, looked strange and in a daze. Deputies believed he may have been suffering from a medical ailment.

The driver wouldn’t stop, and was swerving and hitting either side of the bridge, according to the statement. Other drivers tried to get out of the way.

The F-150 began to slow, and a deputy leaped out of his car to try and catch it on foot. At the time, he couldn’t catch it, so he got back into his own car and gave chase again.

The truck continued, sideswiping a Camden police car, according to the statement. Finally, the Kershaw deputy was able to chase down the car on foot again.

This time, he managed to catch it, climbing in from the passenger side and stopping the car, according to the statement. The driver was unconscious and soon stopped breathing.

Officers thought the man had died, according to the statement. A deputy began giving the man CPR, and got his heart beating again.

The man was also given Narcan, a drug used to treat opioid overdoses, because deputies found an empty bottle of oxycodone in his pocket.

According to the sheriff’s office, the driver is now “raising cain” at an area hospital.

This story was originally published July 26, 2018 at 12:36 PM.