Watch: Driver Sideswipes South Carolina Deputy's Patrol Vehicle at Road Construction Site
What to Know
- Deputy Jordan Knight was injured in a crash on I-126 while working extra duty at a construction site, with the driver charged with speeding for conditions.
- Several law enforcement officers, including troopers and deputies, have been injured or killed in recent traffic incidents across South Carolina, raising safety concerns.
- Authorities urge drivers to slow down, move over for flashing lights, and avoid impaired driving to protect law enforcement personnel and themselves.
RICHLAND COUNTY, S.C. -- A deputy was recently injured in the line of duty, according to the Richland County Sheriff’s Department.
Deputy Jordan Knight was hurt Monday in a crash on a stretch of Interstate 126 in South Carolina, the sheriff’s department said in a news release.
Knight was working extra duty at a road construction site on the westbound side of I-126 near the entrance ramp for Colonial Life Boulevard, according to Wednesday’s release.At about 11:15 p.m. Monday, Knight was in his patrol vehicle when it was hit by another driver, according to the sheriff’s department.
Knight was treated at a local hospital for minor injuries and has since been released, the sheriff’s department said. Information about Knight possibly returning to duty in the field for the sheriff’s department was not available.
The construction crew was unharmed, and the man driving the other vehicle, 64-year-old David Dudley, declined medical treatment from EMS, according to the release.
The collision was investigated by the South Carolina Highway Patrol and Dudley was charged with driving too fast for conditions, the sheriff’s department said.
“We are very fortunate that our deputy is OK and no workers were killed that night,” Sheriff Leon Lott said in the release. “When you see flashing lights, slow down!”
Knight is the latest law enforcement officer to be injured in a crash in the Midlands.
In a three-day span in early September, two Highway patrol troopers were injured during traffic stops. In August, a trooper was killed during a traffic stop. Sept. 9 collision
On Sept. 9, Master Trooper Wayne H. LaBounty , a 40-year law enforcement veteran, was airlifted to Prisma Health Richland hospital following a multi-vehicle wreck.
LaBounty had pulled over a vehicle near the intersection of Augusta Highway and Lost Branch Road, according to the sheriff’s department. That’s in a part of Lexington between Interstate 20 and U.S. 378.
A Lexington County Sheriff’s Department deputy slowed down to check on the trooper during the traffic stop, according to Richland County officials. 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.
LaBounty survived the collision, but spent significant time hospitalized. Another trooper hit in traffic stop
Another trooper was injured Sept. 7 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
Those crashes happened about 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, according to the Highway Patrol.
“We are pleading with the public to slow down, move over for blue lights, and never drive impaired,” the Highway Patrol said in September.
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