Woman in handcuffs ran from man in car who aimed to run her over, SC cops say

A woman in handcuffs was recently running away from a wooded area of South Carolina while being chased by a car whose driver was trying to run her over, according to the Aiken County Sheriff’s Office.

The woman had committed no crime, and was escaping from the man who kidnapped her as he pretended to be a police officer, the sheriff’s office said in a news release.

Now the man has been arrested, as 39-year-old New Ellenton resident Jonathan Willard was charged with kidnapping and impersonation of a law enforcement officer, according to the release.

The charges stem from an incident that happened in the early morning hours of May 29 near the intersection of Banksmill Road and Club Drive, the sheriff’s office said.

A deputy was responding to a report of a kidnapping, and found a woman who was sitting on the ground, with what was later determined to be a pair of toy handcuffs on the ground beside her, while surrounded by multiple witnesses, the sheriff’s office said in an incident report.

One of the witnesses told the deputy that he was driving toward New Ellenton when he saw the woman run out of a wood line with her hands bound behind her, and away from a green Cadillac DeVille, according to the incident report. The witness told the deputy that the Cadillac driver tried running over the woman before driving away, the incident report shows.

The woman told the deputy that she was staying with her brother, and at about 5 a.m. got up to take a walk, according to the incident report. After seeing the Cadillac at the entrance of the Chukker Creek Apartments, it pulled up behind her and the driver told her he was a police officer, the incident report said.

She told the deputy that the driver handcuffed her, took away her phone and social security card, then put her in the back of the car, which had no backseat, according to the incident report. The man then drove the car away, telling the woman he was taking her to the police station, and she began to suspect he was not actually a law enforcement officer, the incident report shows.

The woman said that the car pulled into an unmarked driveway with a gate, then the driver got out and went to the trunk, according to the incident report. She told the deputy that the driver left his door open as he dug around in the trunk, when she tried to exit the car but learned the backdoors didn’t open, the incident report said.

The woman said she then crawled to the front of the car and got out through the open driver’s door, then ran to Williston Road in search of help, according to the incident report. That’s when the first witness drove past, the incident report shows. While the man told the deputy what he saw with his eyes, he also showed law enforcement what was recorded on the dash cam of his tractor trailer, according to the incident report. The deputy then saw footage of the woman running with her hands behind her and the Cadillac driver in pursuit before he attempted to run her over, the incident report said.

Willard was arrested May 30 and booked into the Aiken County Detention Center at 4:22 p.m., jail records show. No bond was set and Willard remains locked up, according to jail records.

The sheriff’s office said this might not have been the first time that Willard has done something like this, and urged anyone that has had any similar incidents or interactions with him to call 803-642-1761.

Willard has been arrested multiple times in the past two decades, including in 2023 when he was charged with domestic violence, a crime that he pleaded guilty to in 2024, Aiken County court records show.

Noah Feit

The State

803-771-8435

Noah Feit is a Real Time reporter with The State focused on breaking news, public safety and trending news. The award-winning journalist has worked for multiple newspapers since starting his career in 1999. Support my work with a digital subscription