Grayson Mathis Jr. (2020)

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Overview

On June 30, 2020, Anderson South Carolina Police Department officers Joseph Chapman and Zachary Lucas saw Mathis fail to use his turn signal. The officers ran the vehicle's license plate, which came back to a different car. The officers attempted to stop Mathis, who refused to stop. The chase continued for 15 miles, reaching speeds of 100 miles per hour, and running through stop signs and red lights. The city officers requested assistance from Anderson County Sheriff’s Office deputies, who deployed a spike strip to disable Mathis' vehicle.[1]

It is claimed that Mathis hit the spike strip at 91 mph and lost control of his vehicle. The car left the roadway, struck Brenda Wilson in her yard, and crashed into a tree, catching on fire. The Mathis and Wilson died.[1]

Mathis' family filed a lawsuit against the officers, the city, the police and sheriff's departments, the city manager, the city council, and others.[1]

On July 23, 2021, Wilson's family filed a lawsuit against Chapman, the police and sheriff's departments, and others. [2]

In October 2022, the lawsuit filed by Wilson's family was settled for $2.5 million.[3]

Video

The lawsuit claims that body-worn cameras were manually disabled for the majority of time at the scene. Lucas claims to have lost his body-worn camera after the crash.[1]

Officers Involved


Official Reports

Additional Sources

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Sarah Sheridan, Father of man killed in 2020 police chase sues city, officers for 'outrageous conduct', Anderson Independent Mail, 2021-12-17
  2. Wilson v. Anderson City Police Department, The et al, U.S. District Court
  3. Haviland Stewart, Estate of woman killed during police pursuit awarded $2.5M, South Carolina Lawyers Weekly, 2022-10-24

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