Two arrested for excessive speeding, including teen driving ‘graduation present’

A little more than two weeks after Kershaw County deputies arrested two men for speeding in excess of 120 mph, they arrested two more men for driving similar speeds last week.

Deputies stopped Saul Timothy Kent, 24, of McCormick around 10:30 p.m. Friday for traveling southbound on Interstate 20 near mile marker 105 going 120 mph in a Chrysler 300, according to a news release from the Kershaw County Sheriff’s Department. Deputies reported they smelled marijuana when they approached his door, but a search yielded none.

Kent told deputies he was driving fast so he could travel home to see a sick relative.

About 20 minutes later, deputies stopped Zachary Sanford Daniel, 18, of Columbia after they determined he was driving about 130 mph on I-20 near mile marker 102 in a late model Nissan 370ZX.

Daniel told the deputy that he just received the car as a graduation present from his parents, and “he was just trying to see what it would do,” the release stated.

Both men were transported to Kershaw County Detention Center due to their excessive speeds.

Neither men has a prior arrest record.

The penalty for driving more than 25 mph over the speed limit is a $445 fine and six points applied to their driver’s licenses.

“All of these speeding arrests have taken place on the section of I-20 where there are numerous crosses placed in the median memorializing traffic fatalities,” Sheriff Jim Matthews said. “This kind of activity is reckless, irresponsible and dangerous for not only the offenders, but also for anyone driving on the interstate. Being caught going that fast will result in a trip to the county jail.”