you know I don't I don't want my emotions to take over on this. But
this this guy shot our deputy. He ambushed him.
Our deputy showed great restraint. He shot back only when he was being shot
at *** guy gets in *** car. They chase him again. He wrecks, gets out and
fires at the deputy. I think some more gunfire was exchanged but our deputy
did not back up. He did not crawfish at all. He he went forward into the
problem.
This is what team the dog team.
Everybody got their track. This young man down.
He was laying beside *** rifle but didn't attempt to get it.
Our men showed great restraint knowing that one of our guys had just been
ambushed and they took this man into custody
without firing any shots at him. They didn't
they just arrested him.
You know you asked me why I'm proud. The men and women of this department in
the law enforcement in blue. That's why
I don't want to hear it From anybody about cops, this and cops that until
you walked about 2" in our shoes. I don't wanna hear it.
We are the good guys.
We do it right and we did it right.
I just asked for you to pray for our deputy. I'm not gonna release his name
at this point.
I'm not going to release the suspect's name just yet.
South Carolina law enforcement division. It has been on the scene. Shortly after
all this occurred. The highway patrol.
I saw somebody from the city of welfare in the city of Spartanburg.
Everybody came to help
Sheriff Hobart Lewis has been over here with me helping me through this. This
is hard, is heard
his team has provided any and everything that we've needed.
He's at *** local hospital is all I'm gonna say to that and
Sheriff Hobart Lewis will be providing security for him until he is able to be
released to the detention center.
But I want you to know
I couldn't be more proud of the team that we have here
because you know, we love our family.
We absolutely love our men and women here and I mean love them and I ain't
talking about just *** great bond of something. We love them.
I'll try to answer your questions. I mean, I'm gonna have to be,
I might have to be pretty
quiet about some things are just some things I can't release right now,
but I'll do my best. So go ahead
first of all, say our prayers. Right. And was this offer?
He had *** partner
supposed to only be one half on the scene and he was by himself
blurring through neighbors.
Mr Dwayne or deny that. Yeah, I've seen
and overall you mentioned how,
how amazing your officers did today as *** sheriff who takes great pride in
his office knowing that this was *** very stressful situation,
what it really needs, especially during the
christ makes all things new.
I'm gonna give you *** bible verse my my wife gave to me when my father was
dying.
And this applies today and I want everybody to hear it
Some 56 threes. What time? I'm afraid I will trust in thee.
I will trust in christ in this. I'm confused. I'm hurt. I'm angry.
I don't know how to feel.
And those deputies are going through the much worse than I'm going through.
I was on the scene to these men kicked into action and just follow the law.
If if some of the people out there, they want to run their mouth about, we
kill them as soon as we get an opportunity, we don't
we just don't we follow the law. It's up to the bad guy. If we have to take
him into custody or shoot him and he didn't go for *** gun. He was asking
for help and we provided that for him.
You know, I'm appraised. So I think it's the West View Fair Forest Fire
Department. They were on scene doing everything they could do to help our
guy.
They even wouldn't help the bad guy and that's what we're supposed to do. And
it ain't easy. It's not easy.
It's just not easy.
So
we had *** gentleman that came up and wanted to record us that's been coming
up to the office and recording, You know, I'm just I mean, can we have some
humanity and decency about you with this, will you
I mean, you know, we're hurting pretty bad right now. If somebody in y'all's
family or whatever it was done that way. We wouldn't do you this way.
So I mean,
I just need your prayers. The deputies need your prayers, they need your
prayers.
I am so proud.
I'm so proud of our team. I'm so proud of our family,
our family at the Spartanburg County Sheriff's Department did it right. We
do it right. Every chance we get we don't feel on that very much at all.
And when we do, we fix it and we try to say it, but we we did so good today
our men put themselves in harm's way.
So y'all won't have to do it.
I want you to know that the people in that area on Chaffey drive, please be
patient with us. We have things that we just must do.
We just have things we have to do and it's gonna be an inconvenience to you
going home and all this stuff. Please just bear with us.
I don't, I really don't know what else to say except I'm and hurt.
I'm proud.
I've talked to jesus *** lot today.
I don't I don't know why these things happen. I don't have *** clue,
but I know God does and he will take care of us.
You know, and I know that the facebook is gonna blow up because I mentioned
jesus christ will blow it up because he's the only way. He's the only one, I
don't see how people make it without jesus because it's hard to make it with
him.
Still hard.
I have hope our men and women will resolve. We will not quit. We're not
gonna lose either.
We want our community to know that will hill,
we're hurting, we're healing.
We still provide the best protection we can give to you because that's what
kind of men and women that Spartanburg County barely pay.
I've been begging and begging and begging for deputies to get more pay.
They don't make enough money to do what they do. But they do it because it's
*** calling to them.
I'm hiring deputies for the detention center in here and I'm I'm asking
anybody that wants to go work in the mission field right here in Spartanburg
County, come join our team. We'd love to have you. We need people like you. I
need some more people like this deputy, I do
so proud of him and all his accomplishments in his short three
years here.
He's *** good kid man, good boy.
End it right here and just tell you you know, all the people that is, I've been
praying for us and calling and saying thank you and dropping food off, We
love you and we thank you.
No,
you know, I know I'm going to hear those questions about what color this
person was.
He was *** human being with *** gun that hurt her deputy. Um, and we
responded appropriately. He didn't, he didn't cause us to have to kill him and
we didn't,
don't make no apologies about that because we did the right thing
any more questions.
Sheriff. I was just wondering if you could tell us *** little bit more about
that
I guess spotted the suspect vehicle
danger. Yeah, He um, he was by himself for *** while after knowing that this
guy had done what he did and he didn't back up at all. He kept trucking. He
kept going,
You remember seeing the images on 911 where the officers were running to the
problem instead of away? That's just what we do.
He did that he put his own life in jeopardy and this guy was not gonna
give up too easily.
You know, I'm thankful that I didn't have two deputies hurt.
So I do ask you to pray for the deputy's family. I'll release his name
and all that stuff when it's appropriate and I'll give some more
details about this. But I want to let
I wanna let Slade do what they do and I just can't thank all the sheriffs
around the state of south Carolina and the governor called me and
it means *** lot when people reach out and tell you how much they care for you.
Chief Mark Hill and his team are the greatest.
So please keep praying for us.
Thank you guys. I appreciate you