SC man sues sheriff’s office after deputy slams squad car door on his head

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SC man sues sheriff’s office after deputy slams squad car door on his head

Lyn Riddle
·2 min read

A Greenville County man whose head was closed in a squad car door while handcuffed has sued the Greenville County Sheriff’s Office in federal and state courts.

The lawsuits claim Stephon Hopkins was arrested in April 2019 on no specific charges after he asked deputies if he was under arrest and, when they said no, he walked away. Officers had been sent to a home on Athelone Avenue in the West Gantt section off Interstate 85 after someone called 911 twice and hung up.

The lawsuit says the officers tased Hopkins and tackled him. Deputy Austin Fowler pinned him down while Deputy Jacob Walters placed handcuffs over his own fingers and used them as brass knuckles to hit Hopkins in the face, the lawsuit says.

The lawsuit claims Walters taunted and disparaged Hopkins on the ride to the the Greenville County Detention Center.

A law enforcement body camera shows Hopkins sitting in the car in the fenced Detention Center lot, refusing to get out. Walters then forced Hopkins from the car, dropping him to the ground with his arms handcuffed behind his back. It then shows a hand shut the squad car door with Hopkins’ head between the side of the car and the door.

In the video, Hopkins yells that they slammed the door on his head. Another officer approaches and says to Hopkins, “He’s going to do it again if you don’t f------ stop.”

In the moment, Hopkins said he hopes the body camera is showing everything. “This is a lawsuit,” he said.

One officer responds that the camera is on and he turned it on just for Hopkins.

After they get Hopkins into a cell, officers in the pod outside talk about what the charge is. with the body camera still rolling. Walters says he doesn’t know who the defendant is and he’ll have to decide on a charge.

Hopkins was charged with resisting arrest, pleaded no contest, and spent seven months in jail. He served additional time in Newberry County after that and when he was released filed the complaint.

Since the complaint was filed, Walters has been put on paid administrative leave.

Lt. Ryan Flood of the sheriff’s office said an internal review of the incident is underway and the State Law Enforcement Division has been asked to conduct an independent investigation.

Flood declined to comment on the lawsuit.

Hopkins’ attorney Jessica Fickling of the Strom Law Firm in Columbia said they are seeking unspecified monetary damages.

The lawsuit also alleges that the Sheriff’s Office has received numerous complaints through the years about improper use of force but has not changed its policies to include such tactics as de-escalation in fraught circumstances.

Finkling said the fact that Hopkins’ case is two years old and no investigation was done until now goes to the heart of the problem.

“They’re not going to look under rocks if they don’t have to,” she said.

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