Suit by Richland court employee attacked by knife assailant alleges ‘negligent’ deputies

A former Richland County employee attacked by a knife-wielding assailant inside the courthouse last March has filed a lawsuit accusing the county sheriff’s department, in charge for keeping visitors and employees safe, of serious flaws in the building’s security.

“I love a lot of people in this building. They’re like family. All I want to do is keep this from happening again, “said the employee, Teresa Cribb, 56, who had worked at the courthouse 31 years, most recently as a manager, who supervised more than 10 people in the courthouse criminal records department.

Hundreds of people visit the courthouse in downtown Columbia every day, and sheriff’s deputies are supposed to screen visitors as well as provide courtroom and building security.

Cribb said she retired shortly after the March 10 incident because she was still traumatized by memories of the incident and would have had an emotional cost if she stayed, The decision to leave her $61,000-a-year job has cost her money because she retired early.

“I had to have someone go with me to the bathroom,” said Cribbs on her brief return to her office on the courthouse’s fourth floor after the attack.

That fourth floor — where the attack took place — has little of the constant visitor traffic of the building’s first three floors and its corridors are often deserted. During her brief return to work, she also found few colleagues seemed to take the attack seriously, she said.

Her lawsuit described the incident, which happened when she was coming back from a visit to the restroom, as unprovoked and violent.

“The attacker, armed with an open knife, seized Teresa Cribb from behind and held her in a choke hold while attempting to stab, cut and/or slice her neck,” the lawsuit said. “The attacker was allowed to enter the Richland County courthouse with a weapon due to the neglect, recklessness, failure to follow security procedures and the unconscionable misconduct of the Richland County Sheriff’s Department.”

Longtime Richland County Sheriff Leon Lott said Tuesday he has not yet been served with the lawsuit and would have no immediate comment.

“We will address it like we do any lawsuit in the court system,” Lott said.

After the March 10 incident, Walt Cartin, president of the Richland County Bar Association, asked S.C. Supreme Court Chief Justice Donald Beatty to evaluate the courthouse security plan.

On Aug. 24, Beatty replied, and said he takes “seriously any security threat” and that new safety protocols had been implemented, new screening equipment has been ordered “and courthouse security officers have received further training.”

The chief justice also said, “Although this is a good start, I recognize that improvements still need to be made.”

Cartin told The State he was pleased with the chief justice’s response to the security situation and said “we are going to continue to monitor it and see how we can help.”

Security issues before the March incident

Cribb’s lawsuit, filed in Richland County state court, alleged that even before the March 10 incident, people who worked at the courthouse had “complained to the Richland County sheriff’s department about the lack of security and not enforcing security measures.” Deputies “routinely” were understaffed, used obsolete metal detectors, failed to monitor each floor and were allowed to leave their posts early, the lawsuit alleged.

On the morning of March 10, sheriff’s deputies allowed a woman named Latasha Boyd to pass through courthouse security and a metal detector carrying a metal knife, the lawsuit said.

Boyd was in the courthouse for more than seven hours, most of the time on the fourth floor of the building, without any deputy talking to her, the lawsuit said.

Around 3:45 pm, Cribb was walking back from the restroom when Boyd grabbed her and put the knife blade to her neck, the lawsuit said. Cribb screamed for help, but no one heard her.

As Cribb tried to get away from Boyd, the elevator door open and Jerrod Fussnecker, who works with the state Attorney General’s office, got off and seeing the attack, yelled “What’s going on?” Boyd replied, “I’m not going back to prison... I’m going to stab you... I’m going to kill you,” the lawsuit alleged.

Cribb fled and eventually deputies “briefly detained” Boyd and confiscated her knife, the lawsuit alleged.

But then, the lawsuit alleged, deputies did not take Boyd — who was allowed to leave the courthouse — into custody or fill out an incident report.

One deputy told Cribb that it “was near 5 o’clock and time to leave” and they were not planning to take any action against Boyd, the lawsuit alleged. Another sheriff’s department employee told her, it was “just a little knife,” the lawsuit alleged.

Boyd was arrested later and is now in the Alvin S. Glenn Detention Center being held without bond.

Cribb’s lawsuit seeks an unspecified amount of “actual and consequential” damages.

Cribb’s lawyer, Robert Goings of Columbia, said it was “appalling” that his client’s attacker was allowed to leave the courthouse and not arrested on the spot “We want positive change and not excuses. Our goal is to improve the safety of everyone entering that building.”

Jeanette McBride, Richland County clerk of court, who supervises courthouse employees, could not be reached for comment.

Cribb said when she tried to get answers from county officials about what happened, she didn’t get much response. “All I wanted was change, to try to make things better,” she said. “I did nothing wrong but get attacked.”

This story was originally published September 14, 2022 at 5:00 AM.