Trooper in court for hitting man with patrol car

Robert Kittle
Published: August 27, 2008

A State Trooper facing federal charges for using his car to ram a fleeing suspect was in court Wednesday. The incident happened last year in Greenwood.

After a high-speed chase, the suspect got out of his car and ran. State Trooper Steven Garren hit the man as he ran across the street. After flying over the hood, the man hit the ground, got up and kept running.

Garren was indicted on charges of violating the man’s civil rights by using excessive force. He and his lawyers were in federal court in columbia Wednesday. They were hoping to get dashcam videotapes from the cars of four Greenwood county deputies who were also there. But they found out in court that two of the deputies did not have cameras in their cars and the other two did not have their cameras turned on at the time.

John O’Leary - Garren’s Lawyer - “Well, I mean it shows me who’s at the scene, where everybody is at the time on the whole thing. That was what I was looking for. But we don’t have ‘em, so I have to figure out a way to do that some alternate way.”

He says Garren is not guilty and hitting the man was an accident. Garren is also on tape saying he meant to hit the man, but O’Leary says that was just bragging to act macho.

Jury selection for Garren’s trial is scheduled for September 22nd in Greenville.