South Carolina deputy charged with killing unarmed man and letting police dog maul innocent person
A deputy in South Carolina has been charged with voluntary manslaughter and assault after he fatally shot an unarmed suspect five times and his police dog mauled a different, innocent person, authorities said.
State agents arrested former Florence County deputy Treyvon Jonathan Sellers on Wednesday. He was on leave after the May 26 shooting and was fired in July after an arrest in an unrelated domestic violence case.
Sellers was chasing 43-year-old William Dwayne Rankin when Rankin crashed into a tree and ran into a nearby home near Florence, the State Law Enforcement Division said in a sworn statement.
Sellers went into the home through the back door with his police dog, which was not on a leash, and didn’t announce who he was, state agents said.
He then ordered the dog to attack without knowing who was inside. The dog bit the owner of the home, who was not involved in the chase and did not know Sellers, agents said.
