Lawmaker wants AG to reopen Zachary Hammond case

The South Carolina House minority leader has asked the state attorney general to reopen the fatal, police-involved shooting of Zachary Hammond and believes after watching the video that Hammond was not trying to run over the officer.

Rep. Todd Rutherford, the state House minority leader, criticized the ruling of Solicitor Chrissy Adams and said he would ask Attorney General Alan Wilson to reopen the case.

Efforts to reach Adams late Thursday night for comment on this story were not successful.

Adams announced last week that Lt. Mark Tiller would not face charges in the death of Hammond during a summer drug bust in Seneca.

Rutherford, a former prosecutor and defense attorney, said he watched the dash cam video several times and never saw Hammond try to run over Tiller, although that is what Tiller said after the shooting.

“Zach Hammond did nothing but try and get away,” Rutherford said. “And in doing so, he lost his life. That’s a great injustice. It’s an injustice anywhere in the civilized world.”

Based on the video, Rutherford said Tiller should not be an officer. Rutherford said Tiller should’ve been charged using a probable cause standard.

“The fact that he was not (charged) is certainly a disgrace to South Carolina,” Rutherford said. “It's a disgrace to this family and they deserve better than that.”

Adams, in a letter to SLED, detailed text messages from Hammond’s phone saying he had avoided several police checkpoints in previous weeks. Adams also referenced Hammond's text messages in which he compared himself to an “animal” and “outlaw.” She said case law shows a suspect’s state of mind can be taken into account in determining whether the officer’s actions are justified, even if the officer isn’t aware of the state of mind of the suspect at the time of an incident.

Rutherford disputed Adams’ conclusion. He said the text messages didn’t matter unless Tiller saw the text messages before the incident.

Rutherford also announced plans to introduce legislation that would make it illegal for police officers to use excessive force.

Rutherford said his legislation would give prosecutors another tool “when going after a cop that should not be on the force.”

Rutherford’s excessive force statute would carry a punishment of up to life. He said he expects bipartisan support for his proposed legislation. Republicans have already told him they are equally concerned that justice was not served in the Hammond case, Rutherford said.

“In South Carolina, you cannot claim self-defense if you put yourself in danger,” Rutherford said. “So how is it that this officer is allowed to say: ‘He was trying to run me over,’ if he’s the one that kept running beside the car?”

Rutherford also said he expects police officers to support his legislation.

“Those that believe that they can use excessive force, need not come to the table,” he said. “Those that believe they can simply shoot people at will, those that believe that they have this cozy relationship with prosecutors so that they don't have to worry about getting charged, they need not come to the table.”

This story was originally published November 5, 2015 at 9:05 PM with the headline "Lawmaker wants AG to reopen Zachary Hammond case."