Family of man shot by Richland deputy asks for independent investigators to step in
The family of a man who was fatally shot by a Richland County Sheriff’s Department deputy wants an independent law enforcement agency — not the sheriff’s department — to investigate the shooting.
Tuesday, the family of 34-year-old Irvin Moorer Charley gave a statement saying they “demand that Sheriff Leon Lott and the Richland County Sheriff’s Department recuse themselves and ask for an independent investigation of this shooting by a third party” such as the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division.”
The family said it believes that the sheriff department investigating its own shooting “creates an inherent conflict of interest.”
The sheriff’s department said that, like other large law enforcement agencies across the country, it is qualified to investigate shootings involving its deputies. The department also said its investigation will be reviewed by the FBI and others.
Richland County Deputy Zachary Hentz, who is white, shot Moorer Charley, who is Black, Saturday after a domestic violence call, Sheriff Leon Lott said in a Sunday news conference. Moorer Charley died shortly afterwards, he said.
Moorer Charley was combative and wielding a wooden stake as a weapon, Lott said. Although a deputy shot him with a Taser, it was not effective, Lott said. In calls to police, the family said “numerous times” that Moorer Charley had a knife and was assaulting people, the sheriff’s department said.
The sheriff’s version of events is disputed by the family.
“We believe the evidence will show that the officers knew this was a mental health situation, and at the time they arrived, no one was in imminent danger,” said a statement issued by family lawyers Brendan Green, Shaquana Cuttino and Johnny Watson.
The statement also said that “the officers escalated the situation with Mr. Moorer Charley even when he had retreated. This was a tragic and preventable death.”
“The family of Mr. Charley is in the process of grieving and asks for your privacy during their time of need,” the statement said.
Some groups who have talked to the family dispute how lethal the item in Moorer Charley’s hand could have been. The South Carolina Black Activist Coalition called the item “a stick,” which Lott said wasn’t true.
The weapons had been described as a knife, but was discovered to be a pointed wooden object about 15 inches long, according to police.
After a shooting by an officer, most South Carolina police agencies ask SLED to investigate. Most explain this decision as a way to avoid bias, or the appearance of bias, in the investigation.
But Richland County Sheriff’s Department has operated differently under Lott. It investigates its own officer-involved shootings. The department also avoids asking for SLED’s help in many areas of investigations, such as forensic analysis, though it’s common with other state police agencies to ask for such assistance.
The sheriff’s department, one of the state’s largest, does all such work in-house.
Not only has the sheriff’s department not used SLED, the department has on occasion done work commonly assigned to the state agents. In 2018, after a gunman shot seven Florence police officers, killing two, the Richland sheriff’s department investigated at the request of Florence County law enforcement.
The family also said Tuesday that it “looks forward to working with the State Law Enforcement Division in the investigation of this matter.”
SLED Chief Mark Keel said Tuesday afternoon his department will not be investigating the Moorer Charley incident.
For one thing, SLED has to be asked into officer-involved shooting incidents, and Sheriff Lott has not done that, Keel said.
Moreover, agencies around the routinely secure officer-involved shooting scenes so that when SLED investigators arrive to start work, SLED can begin talking to witnesses and gathering evidence without it being handled by anyone else, Keel said.
Mental health issues
The issue of police responding to mentally ill people and people in mental health crisis and those calls ending in death have become publicly scrutinized in recent years. Critics say police need more training in de-escalation techniques and that people trained to deal with mentally ill people should on the scene with police.
In early March, a former Los Angeles police officer was sentenced to prison after he fatally shot a man with mental illness.
Lott has said that deputies weren’t responding to a call about someone in a mental health crisis. Deputies were called for a domestic violence situation with someone having a weapon. The man moved toward the deputy with the weapon still in hand.
In the last year, Lott has touted his department’s ability to deal with people with mental health issues. In 2021, Lott created a “crisis intervention team” of mental health professionals, instead of deputies, to go to calls about people who are suspected to be mentally ill.
Deputies have gone through days of mental illness response training, the department said.
In October, Lott had a late night news conference after his deputies successfully got a man who appeared to be in a mental health crisis off a roof alive even though he shot at deputies.
Sheriff Department responds to call for new investigation
In response to the call for a new, independent investigation, the sheriff’s department said large police agencies across the country investigate their own shootings.
As the largest in South Carolina, the Richland County Sheriff’s Department has the manpower and technology it needs to investigate its own shootings, the department said in a statement.
“SLED is not engaged with local communities, does not practice community policing, does not develop community partnerships and does not have a citizen’s review process,” Lott said in a statement. “These factors may result in an increased risk for civil unrest following controversial case outcomes.”
SLED Chief Keel sharply disputed Lott’s characterization of SLED’s outreach around the state.
“The statement by Richland County Sheriff Leon Lott is false and misleading,” said Keel in a Tuesday afternoon statement.
“SLED has a Community Relations Unit that is comprised of regional community relations agents who directly interact with members of the public, churches, civic organizations, and partner law enforcement agencies,” Keel said.
Keel also said that numerous professional law enforcement organizations advocate for independent investigations in officer-involved shootings.
“SLED, along with the S.C. Sheriffs’ Association, S.C. Police Chiefs’ Association, S.C. Law Enforcement Officers’ Association, and the S.C. chapter of the Fraternal Order of Police have advocated for independent investigations of officer involved shootings and in-custody deaths,” Keel said.
Keel added, “SLED understands that officer involved shooting events have the potential to generate immense public, media, and prosecutorial scrutiny. In addition, these events can have profound social, civil, administrative, and criminal consequences. This is not about capability. It is about conducting independent investigations with the utmost integrity and impartiality.”
The Federal Bureau of Investigation reviews all of his sheriff’s department internal shooting investigations, Sheriff Lott said.
Further, the sheriff’s department’s longstanding citizen advisory council allows the NAACP, Black Lives Matter SC and other community leaders to review the case and gives them “full access to the gathering of evidence” and the FBI review, Lott said.
Moorer Charley was known to “some deputies,” the sheriff’s department said.
The 5th Circuit Solicitor’s Office has made a preliminary determination that there was “no wrongdoing” by the officer after reviewing body camera video, the sheriff’s department said.
Solicitor Byron Gipson, contacted later Tuesday, declined to comment on what the sheriff said.
“I’m going to reserve any comment until I see all of the investigatory information,” Gipson said. “There’s a lot more I need to see before I make an informed decision.”
Gipson also said, “I have reviewed the video, but there’s more I need to see before I make a determination.”
The Richland County Coroner’s Office, which also investigates, the citizens advisory council, the family and their attorneys have all seen the body camera footage, the department said.
This story was originally published March 22, 2022 at 2:07 PM.