SC deputy shot at in the woods with ‘AK type’ rifle after 8-mile chase, police say
The call had gone out to Charleston police officers: The suspect they were searching for had a rifle.
As a deputy chased the suspect into the woods, officers found the man they were after was willing to use the rifle, according to police.
Thursday night, North Charleston Police Department called out over the radio for officers to be on the lookout for a white Chrysler 200. The driver, 23-year-old Albert Lee Scott III, had fled a domestic incident, police said.
About 11 p.m., Deputy Robert Haslip of the Charleston County Sheriff’s Office saw Scott’s car and pulled him over in a suburban intersection with fast food and gas stations on the corners in Ladson, South Carolina, police reports said. The stop was brief. Scott sped off, according to police.
Scott led police nearly eight miles through stretches of suburban commercial area and onto a narrow two-lane road flanked by quiet neighborhoods, according to a police report. The car chase ended on an even smaller road that’s lined by mobile homes and tangles of tree which dead ends into woods.
Scott ran into those woods. Haslip chased after him. Scott shot at Haslip “multiple times,” state agents said. The deputy called out shots fired over his radio. Haslip fired back and struck Scott, the reports said.
After being shot, Scott fell to the ground and put his hands up, surrendering to Haslip and other deputies, according to a deputy’s report. The rifle he used to fire at Haslip lay on the ground beside Scott, a deputy wrote in a report. The deputy moved the gun away before they cuffed Scott.
Paramedics took Scott to a hospital with non-life threatening injuries, the sheriff’s department said.
As is standard when police are shot at or shoot someone, the shooting is being investigated by South Carolina Law Enforcement Division. SLED said Scott used an “AK type semi-automatic rifle” to fire at the Charleston deputy.
Scott is charged with failure to stop for blue lights. He also had a warrant for his arrest from the state’s probation and parole department, the sheriff’s department said. Other charges will likely be made from SLED’s investigation.
Haslip was placed on administrative leave with pay per protocol when a deputy shoots someone while on duty, the department said.
This story was originally published February 16, 2020 at 1:17 PM.