SLED charges Kershaw County corrections officer in violent attack on inmate
A former Kershaw County Detention Center sergeant was arrested Thursday for “violently” attacking a handcuffed inmate, according to the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division.
Steven Thomas Payne was charged with second-degree assault and battery in the March 31 attack on the inmate, whose hands were restrained behind their back, according a statement and warrant released by SLED. Payne was fired for misconduct by the Kershaw County jail following the attack.
Payne, 35, was escorting the unidentified inmate from the Kershaw County Detention Center booking area when he grabbed the victim by the neck and slammed them against a wall, according to the arrest warrant. Payne then tripped the cuffed inmate, knocking him to the floor.
“At no point in this interaction did [REDACTED] pose a threat of physical harm or escape from the facility,” said the arrest warrant provided by SLED.
Information contained in an affidavit indicates that several witnesses saw the attack, which was recorded by surveillance cameras.
The incident was referred to the Camden Police Department by former Kershaw County jail director Tyrell Cato, said Camden City Police Capt. Tom Borowski.
Borowski said that Camden police reviewed the surveillance footage and handed the case over to SLED, which is standard practice for investigations involving other law enforcement agencies.
While under criminal investigation, Payne was formally terminated on April 1 for substantiated misconduct. In paperwork obtained from the South Carolina Criminal Justice Academy, Payne is described as having been fired for allegedly using “more force than needed when dealing with a detainee.”
The termination document, which lists Cato as the contact, was filed with the criminal justice academy, which retains records of when a law enforcement officer leaves an agency in South Carolina.
Cato was fired from the jail in May following an investigation into allegations that he sexually harassed a subordinate at the jail. He is currently the director of the Richland County jail.
Payne was employed at the jail since January 2017, according to his employment record. A post on on the Kershaw jail’s Facebook page celebrated his promotion from corporal to sergeant in February 2021.
Following his arrest, Payne was booked at the Kershaw County Detention Center. His bond was set at $4,000 by Kershaw County Magistrate Darrell J. Drakeford. The Fifth Circuit Solicitor’s Office will prosecute the case.