Former city of Columbia, South Carolina police chief Randy Scott was arrested on Tuesday evening and charged with drug possession.
The 49-year-old ex-lawman – whose career has been marked by scandal – was charged with possessing less than a gram of “methamphetamine or a cocaine-based substance.” It’s not immediately clear what drug he was accused of having on his person – however sources familiar with the situation tell us it was powder cocaine.
As of Wednesday morning, Scott remained incarcerated at the Alvin S. Glenn detention center in Richland County awaiting a bond hearing.
Scott resigned as Columbia’s chief of police in 2013 citing post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) complications stemming from the death of a fellow officer years earlier. He was promptly hired by the Richland County, S.C. sheriff’s department – where he had previously served – but resigned from that position in August of 2016 citing “health issues” he claimed to be struggling with in the aftermath of an auto accident.
Columbia mayor Steve Benjamin hired Scott in 2010 to replace Tandy Carter, who was fired after he objected to the city’s meddling into an investigation involving then mayor-elect Benjamin’s controversial election night car crash – which left a Columbia, S.C. hotel worker with permanent physical damage (she has since died of cancer).
Specifically, Carter said that the investigation into Benjamin’s crash was being run by City Hall, and that he refused to be a “puppet police chief.”
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[/timed-content-server]According to our sources, Scott was not arrested by local law enforcement. Instead, we’re told he was taken into custody U.S. Marshals who were reportedly dispatched to his residence in search of a fugitive in an unrelated case.
Developing …
UPDATE: New information.
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