Trial Starts for Trooper Steven Garren Who Hit Suspect with his Patrol Car

The South Carolina trooper whose dash camera showed him in his patrol car hitting a fleeing suspect was in federal court Friday. Trooper Steven Garren has been suspended from the Highway Patrol, after a federal grand jury indicted him on a charge of violating the suspect’s civil rights by using excessive force. The incident happened in Greenwood in June of 2007.

The court hearing was to handle defense motions and to set a trial date. Chief U.S. District Judge David Norton decided that the trial will be held in Greenville either September 29th or October 6th, depending on when defense lawyers get the evidence they’re requesting. They want the dashcam videos from other troopers and Greenwood County deputies who were part of the chase.

Troopers and deputies had been chasing the driver when he stopped his car, jumped out and started running. In Garren’s dashboard camera video, you can see the man running down the street then cross in front of Garren. Garren hits the man, who tumbles over the hood and off to the passenger side of Garren’s car. The man continued to run and was not caught. He later came forward after the videotape was released as part of an overall investigation into accusations of trooper misconduct.

After the incident, Garren can be heard on tape talking to other officers. “He went flying up in the air,” Garren says. “You hit him?” another officer asks. Garren replies, “Yeah, I hit him. I was trying to hit him.”

The Highway Patrol had turned over the case to 8th Circuit Solicitor Jerry Peace after it happened. Peace did not file charges, determining that Garren did not intend to hit the man and that the talk afterward was just Garren trying to act macho in front of other officers.

After the court hearing Friday, one of Garren’s lawyers, John O’Leary of Columbia, said that will be Garren’s defense at trial. “The argument’s pretty obvious. He didn’t do it. There’s no way it could’ve been avoided,” O’Leary says of the collision.

U.S. Attorney for South Carolina Walt Wilkins said, “I have no comment on the defense position. We...this case was indicted by a grand jury, and we’re ready for a jury to make the final decision.”