Family of man who died in police custody seek answers from Irmo police
The family of a man who died in police custody called on the Irmo Police Department to reveal what happened during the man’s arrest and detainment.
“We don’t know what happened that night,” civil rights attorney Bakari Sellers of the Strom Law Firm said during a news conference Tuesday afternoon. “There are a lot of holes and a lot of stories, but we do know this family deserves transparency and honesty.”
Byron Jackson, 45, of North Augusta died after being taken into custody by police in the New Friarsgate neighborhood during the early morning hours of Sunday, June 22.
Five days later, the Irmo Police Department said Jackson was taken into custody around 2 a.m. on June 22 after a vehicle chase that ended at the Dollar General on the 7800 block of Broad River Road. Police were responding to a report of a fight inside a car, but the release said Jackson was alone in the car when officers contacted him.
Jackson then “engaged in an altercation with officers before being taken into custody,” the police department release said. He then “began having trouble breathing,” police said, and was given CPR before being transported to an area hospital.
Jackson did not suffer from any health conditions that involved an inability to breath, his family said.
The Irmo Police Department told The State that because of an ongoing investigation into Jackson’s death by the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division, the department will not be releasing any further information at this time.
Sellers said he knows from “investigators” that police were not in a pursuit with Jackson because he was driving a work van that had mechanical issues and couldn’t go very fast.
“We do know for a fact that there have been some misrepresentations by the Irmo Police Department, the most glaring of which is that there was not a high-speed chase,” Sellers said.
Sellers would not say whether those investigators were from his law firm or the police department.
The police department was notified by a hospital on Wednesday, June 25, that Jackson had died, the department release said, but neither the police nor the Richland County Coroner’s Office identified Jackson’s cause of death.
Jackson is survived by his mother, Bettie Jackson, two sisters, one brother and six children, including Kiestin Jackson, who spoke with reporters Tuesday.
“I stand before you as a testament to the amazing qualities (my dad) had as a man, and I embody those as a student who’s dual enrolled on a full scholarship at Duke University and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill,” Kiestin Jackson said. “I stand on behalf of all my siblings when I say I know that our father loved us.”
Two police officers are on leave after the incident, and the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division is investigating, Irmo police said.
The timing of SLED’s involvement in the investigation is troubling, Sellers said. The state’s top law enforcement agency should’ve began investigating the incident sooner.
“I do this all around the ... state and usually SLED is boots on the ground immediately,” Sellers said. “This (incident) happened on the morning of (June) 22 in the wee hours and SLED did not get involved until later in the evening on Monday, (June) 23.”
A SLED spokesperson said the agency responded when requested by the Irmo Police Department, which was on June 23.
“I saw (Jackson) as someone who loved life,” Bettie Jackson said. “We all loved him dearly and we spoke with (Jackson) two to three times a day, and I’m surely going to miss him. In fact, I’m missing him already.”
Sellers said the potential for a lawsuit on behalf of the family against the Irmo Police Department will depend on what the department releases.
“This can be fixed pretty quickly, if (the police department) would release the body cam video, or, at least, allows the family to come over and view it,” Sellers said. “Then we can come out and and tell you what we saw and whether there were some shenanigans in play or whether this was a tragic accident.”
This story was originally published July 15, 2025 at 3:13 PM.
