2 S.C. Troopers Struck, Injured in Separate Traffic Stops Days Apart

For the second time in three days, and at least the third time since August, a South Carolina Highway Patrol trooper was injured on a Midlands road while making a traffic stop, officials said Tuesday.

The trooper was outside of his vehicle early Tuesday morning when the multi-vehicle collision happened on U.S. 1/ Augusta Highway in Lexington County, the Richland County Sheriff’s Department said in a news release. The Richland County Sheriff’s Department is leading an investigation into the crash because a Lexington County sheriff’s deputy was also involved in the wreck where the trooper was injured, according to the release.

The trooper who was hurt in the line of duty was airlifted to an area hospital, the Richland County Sheriff’s Department said. Further information on the trooper’s condition was not available.

No other injuries were reported.

The crash happened at about 7 a.m., shortly after the trooper had pulled over a vehicle near the intersection of Augusta Highway and Lost Branch Road, according to the release. That’s in a part of Lexington between Interstate 20 and U.S. 378.

The Lexington County Sheriff’s Department deputy slowed down to check on the trooper during the traffic stop, according to the release. A vehicle traveling in the same lane as the deputy failed to stop in time and it collided with the Lexington County patrol vehicle, the Richland County Sheriff’s Department said.

After hitting the deputy’s patrol car, that vehicle then collided with the vehicle the trooper had detained in the traffic stop, as well as another unrelated vehicle, and then struck the trooper, according to the release.

No arrests have been reported, but the wreck continues to be investigated by the Richland County Sheriff’s Department.

All lanes in the 2900 block of Augusta Highway were shut down, between Lost Branch Road and Calks Ferry Road, according to the Lexington County Sheriff’s Department. Information about when the lanes will be reopened and the scene cleared was not available.

Drivers are asked to avoid the area, and should expect delays.

Another trooper hit in traffic stop

Another trooper was injured Sunday while making a traffic stop in Richland County.

Senior Trooper Mitchell Williams Jr. was hit after another vehicle had been pulled over on Interstate 77 at about midnight, Highway Patrol officials previously said.

Williams — who is assigned to Troop 1, Post D in Richland County — was assisting another trooper with a traffic stop near the 9 mile marker on I-77 when a truck, hauling an enclosed trailer, ran off the side of the highway into the median and hit Williams with the driver’s side mirror, according to the Highway Patrol. That’s near the junction with U.S. 76 and U.S. 378 in Columbia.

Williams was taken to Prisma Health Richland where he was treated and has been released, Highway Patrol officials said.

Trooper death

Tuesday’s crash comes a month after another Highway Patrol trooper was killed in the line of duty after he was hit by a vehicle while he was making a traffic stop.

In August, Trooper First Class Dennis D. Ricks died days after he was struck by a passing box truck while conducting a traffic stop in Orangeburg County, The State previously reported.

On Aug. 10, the trooper had pulled over a vehicle at about 2 a.m. on the eastbound side of Interstate 26 near mile marker 165 in Orangeburg County, according to the Highway Patrol. That’s when the collision occurred.

Ricks was critically injured and had to be airlifted to a hospital, where he died on Aug. 13, the Highway Patrol said.

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