Lawsuit Against ACSO Reaches Settlement

A lawsuit was filed on behalf of a 16-year-old who was bitten by an Anderson County Sheriff’s Office K-9 before being shot five times during an August 2020 incident has been settled.

Attorneys for the teenager in the case announced a $700,000 settlement in their civil suit against the Anderson County Sheriff’s Office. Agents with SLED reported that deputies were pursuing the female juvenile and 21 year-old Bryan Hamilton, Jr after a crash. The teen told SLED investigators she was in the car with Hamilton, who had sold some marijuana when he led law enforcement on a pursuit that ended with the crash.

She said when they wrecked Hamilton pulled her from the vehicle and forced her to go with him. The two were hiding in a wooded area close to the Lowe’s parking lot on Clemson Boulevard when they were found and she was bitten by the K-9. A shot was then heard and deputies, who said they thought they were being ambushed, returned fire. The teen’s attorneys said she sustained a shattered tibia and femur along with wounds to her feet, neck, and back. K-9 Roscoe was also shot by deputies and later died. Hamilton died after he shot himself in the head, according to the coroner.

The South Carolina Attorney General’s Office found that the deputies’ use of force at the time was appropriate to the situation, and SLED cleared those deputies involved of any wrongdoing in the matter, according to the Anderson County Sheriff’s Office.