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WEDNESDAY, APRIL 15, 2015
| Serving South Carolina since October 15, 1894
Attorney issues call for special prosecutor in shooting case
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BY BRUCE SMITH The Associated Press NORTH CHARLESTON — The attorney who brought a $40 million lawsuit following the fatal shooting of a black man by a white officer in Ferguson, Missouri, last year wants a special prosecutor to investigate a similar case in South Carolina. Malik Shabazz, the president of Black Lawyers for Justice, says his group also will conduct its own investigation into the slaying of 50-yearold Walter Scott by a white officer April 4. He also plans a nationwide town hall meeting next weekend to explore the issue of race and police practices. Shabazz attended a rally at North Charleston City Hall attended by about 75 people on Monday, where he said it isn’t enough that officer Michael Slager has been charged with murder. “A charge to us doesn’t mean anything. We want to see that the charges stick,” he said. The shooting was captured on a cellphone video recorded by an eyewitness who was walking nearby. The footage shows Slager firing eight times as Scott is running away, then shows Scott falling to the ground. The video has been seen by millions and resulted in the charge against Slager. “We have reached the point and the tragic point that if you don’t have video showing what happened,” a shooting “is justifiable,” Shabazz said. “We’re not going to be hunted down like deer.” He added that “when we see dead bodies on the ground, we are at war,” and said he was encouraging protesters to “stir the pot” to bring change. But he said he was not advocating violence. “Of course not, I’m an attorney,” he said. Black Lawyers for Justice, founded by Shabazz, brought a lawsuit alleging Ferguson, Missouri, and St. Louis County used excessive force and falsely arrested bystanders to quell unrest after the fatal shooting of a black 18-year-old man by a white officer there last year.
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KEITH GEDAMKE / THE SUMTER ITEM
Investigator Lt. Melissa Addison walks Demetric Jerod Nelson to a waiting car to be taken to the Sumter Lee Regional Detention Center on Tuesday afternoon.
Deputies track down kidnapping, armed-robbery suspect FROM STAFF REPORTS Sumter County deputies tracked down one of their most wanted suspects Tuesday afternoon, less than 12 hours after authorities allege the man robbed and abducted a Sumter woman, forcing her into the trunk of her car at gunpoint. Investigators took Demetric Jerod Nelson, a 27-year-old South Sumter man, into custody near his last known address in the vi-
Tuesday. He was captured about four hours after the Sheriff’s Office issued a statement beckoning the public’s assistance in locating Nelson. Authorities considered the suspect, who reportedly had a long list of violent prior convictions, armed and dangerous as they sought to capture him. According to reports, Nelson entered a 53-year-old woman’s home in the 1800 block of River
cinity of Manning Avenue. Nelson, previously of 319 Manning Ave., faces charges of kidnapping, armed robbery and possession of a weapon during a violent crime stemming from the early morning ordeal, according to a statement issued by the Sumter County Sheriff’s Office. The man could be sentenced to as many as 65 years in prison if convicted of the felony offenses. Officers apprehended Nelson without incident about 1 p.m.
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County Council gets intro to 2016 budget; plans workshop
Early resolve fades, Lucas praised as General Assembly returns
BY ADRIENNE SARVIS adrienne@theitem.com
BY JIM HILLEY jim@theitem.com
Sumter County Council received an introduction to the 2016 fiscal year budget during its regular meeting Tuesday and plans to hold a budget workshop April 28th before giving it first reading May 26th. During the Sumter County Fiscal, Tax and Property Committee meeting, which was held before county council’s meeting, county administrator Gary Mixon announced that the proposed budget currently has a deficit of $1.9 million with expenditures totaling $49.8 million and revenues at $47.9 million. Mixon said the local government fund reflects the current state House of Representatives version of the funds, which has increased the amount by $167,000 over the previous year. He said although there has been an increase, it still falls short — by $1.3 million — of the amount the county should receive based on the local government funding formula. The county administrator mentioned that funding requests from
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Central Carolina Technical College and University of South Carolina Sumter will be reviewed during the coming weeks as well. According to the budget schedule, it is anticipated that the budget will be ready to be considered for final reading by June 23. In other news, council approved: • a resolution to complete an application for a Community Development Block Grant from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development to fund stormwater and road improvements to the Pearce Subdivision off of Pinewood Road; • a resolution authorizing the sheriff’s office to enter into a multijurisdictional agreement with Kershaw County Sheriff’s Office and Town of Andrews Police Department for mutual aid and cooperation, narcotics enforcement purposes and temporary transfer of officers between jurisdictions; and • first reading of amendments to the county code of ordinances to allow freestanding ice vending machines to be placed in general commercial, light
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With lawmakers returning to Columbia to complete the 2015 session of the South Carolina General Assembly, local lawmakers expressed frustration that more has not been accomplished. When legislators gathered in the state capitol at the beginning of the session, a large number expressed their determination that the body would deal with two high profile issues: ethics reform and crumbling infrastructure. “These are things that I would have thought we would have got done early in the session, at least by this time,” said state Sen. Kevin Johnson, D-Manning. “When I came in January, nobody could have told me we wouldn’t have had these things done and sent to the governor.” State Rep. Murrell Smith, RSumter, said he thinks things will begin to move more quickly now. “If you are looking at the agenda items that we discussed all during the off session and at the begin-
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ning of the year, you can expect to start seeing some substantial movement,” he said. He said the House will be working on a roads bill and a domestic violence bill. “We have those issues and the Senate is working on the budget,” he said. “The Senate has ethics reform. There are a lot of big agenda items and that is generally what moves forward.” Rep. David Weeks, D-Sumter, thinks a criminal domestic violence bill will pass, and he said he has hopes for a road funding bill. “I am optimistic — and I have to say that cautiously — that we will come up with some plan to address the roads and infrastructure,” he said. “Those are the two major projects in my mind that need to be dealt with on this side of adjournment. I think we are going to be able to do that.” The Senate is almost set to tackle the budget, says state Sen. Thomas McElveen, D-Sumter.
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