By Andrew Dys
Source The Herald (Rock Hill, S.C.)
YORK COUNTY, S.C.—A North Carolina man has died after being shot Tuesday by a York County Sheriff's deputy in Rock Hill, S.C.
The suspect was shot after a chase that ended in Rock Hill, where the deputy's car was rammed by the suspect, officials said.
The man who was killed was identified as Tyshawn Malik Benjamin, 25, of Wendell, N.C., said York County Coroner Sabrina Gast.
Gast and Sheriff Kevin Tolson spoke at a news conference Wednesday morning at the sheriff's office.
Tolson said Benjamin was driving a car reported stolen earlier Tuesday in Charlotte.
Deputies identified, sheriff says shooting justified
Tolson identified the deputy who fired the shots as senior deputy Korey Wedow. Another deputy, Cpl. Lucas Frame, was also involved in the chase, Tolson said.
Tolson said Wedow's actions to defend himself were appropriate after Benjamin rammed Wedow's parol cruiser. Tolson said the decision to use deadly force was justified.
"Clearly, deputy Wedow was defending his life," Tolson said.
At the news conference, Tolson played some dash camera video from patrol cruisers that showed Benjamin speeding in the police chase. The video showed Benjamin ramming Wedow's cruiser, with Wedow outside the vehicle in the nexus of the door after deputies blocked Benjamin in at a CVS parking lot in Rock Hill.
The video showed Wedow firing his gun at the stolen vehicle.
Suspect did not have a gun
Benjamin did not have a gun, but used the stolen vehicle as a weapon to try and harm Wedow, Tolson said.
Tolson said at the news conference that the question from the public will be asked about a deputy shooting a man who was not armed.
"We will be asked, 'You shot an unarmed man,'" Tolson said. "We did. But he was armed with a vehicle."
Tolson requested the State Law Enforcement, an independent South Carolina police agency, do an outside investigation of the shooting.
The chase
The chase during rush hour lasted 24 minutes and went from the Baxter Village area of northern York County through areas of Rock Hill that included downtown before ending on Cherry Road near the Winthrop University campus.
Benjamin was in a Hyundai SUV that was reported stolen in Charlotte around 1 p.m. Tolson said.
The vehicle was spotted by deputies at 4:35 p.m. in the parking lot of a YMCA in Baxter Village, Tolson said.
The driver, later identified as Benjamin, refused to get out of the vehicle and sped off south on Interstate 77, Tolson said.
Speeds reached 90 miles per hour on I-77 before Benjamin left interstate at Exit 79 and drove into downtown Rock Hill, Tolson said.
Deputies pursued the vehicle through downtown until it stopped in the parking lot of a Chicken King restaurant at the intersection of West Main Street and Cherry Road in Rock Hill, Tolson said.
Benjamin was ordered out of the vehicle at gunpoint at the Chicken King traffic stop, dash camera video showed. However, video showed Benjamin sped off again.
Tolson said Benjamin had an opportunity again at that time when first stopped by deputies in the Chicken King parking lot to surrender, but refused.
Deputies pursued the stolen car to the CVS parking lot, video showed. Two deputies, Wedow and Frame, blocked the stolen vehicle before Benjamin rammed Wedow's vehicle and Wedow fired three shots, according to the video and Tolson.
An internal sheriff's office investigation by the sheriff's office is also ongoing to see if the chase was justified under pursuit policy, Tolson said.
The chase happened during the afternoon rush hour and police dash cam videos show heavy traffic during the pursuit.
However, Tolson said that in his opinion, the pursuit was justified because Benjamin was dangerous to the public as shown by the chase actions.
Benjamin also had several opportunities to stop the pursuit and allow deputies to take him in custody, Tolson said.
"He was a dangerous individual," Tolson said of Benjamin at the news conference.
Suspect's criminal record
According to Tolson and sheriff officials, Benjamin has a criminal record from 2021 and 2022 from arrests in North Carolina and Tennessee. Benjamin had been charged previously by Wake County, N.C. deputies, Greensboro, N.C. police, the Tennessee highway patrol, and others, officials said.
Benjamin had previous charges of possession of a stolen vehicle, drugs, probation violation, larceny, trespassing, and resisting a peace officer, Tolson said.
Tolson said they have not been told by SLED as of Wednesday that any weapons, drugs, or other contraband was found in the stolen car.
What happens now?
Both deputies are on administrative leave as SLED investigates the shooting and the sheriff's office investigates the pursuit.
Wedow is a senior deputy who has been with the office since 2015 as a detention officer, and then since 2018 as an enforcement deputy.
Frame has been with the sheriff's office since 2012. He worked detention until 2019 and then moved to enforcement.
Gast, the coroner, said an autopsy and toxicology is pending for Benjamin.
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