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An Upstate, South Carolina, councilwoman has gone quiet after body-worn camera footage revealed the 72-year-old threatening a Honea Path Police Department (HPPD) officer for refusing to violate a constituent’s residential rights during a disturbance call.
On August 27, 2022, two squad cars were dispatched to the 100 block of Susan Avenue in Honea Path, a town of nearly 4,000 in Anderson County. The disturbance call was placed following reports of a landlord threatening to evict her tenant without so much as filing for an eviction notice — pursuant to S.C. Code of Laws § 27-40-710 (B).
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“I PAY YOUR SALARY …”
Upon arrival at about 9:00 p.m. EST, officers noted four-term Honea Path town councilwoman Dorothy “Dot” Evans preventing her tenant from entering a rental property for “personal reasons” — thereby denying the individual from retrieving “much needed” medication.
“Moral of the story, the tenant needed her medicine,” the responding officer told FITSNews. “But when I told Ms. Evans that, she proceeded to tell me that her tenant would need to file a claim and delivery if she ever wanted to see her prescription again.”
A “claim and delivery” refers to the legal process by which a citizen can undertake the “recovery of specific personal property wrongfully taken or withheld from its rightful owner, with recovery of any damages resulting from the taking or possession of the property.”
According to the former HPPD officer, he informed the councilwoman of her tenant’s residential rights which invalidated the need for S.C. magistrate court intervention — to which the politician “asserted her position” as a municipal employee.
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Body-worn camera footage thereupon captured Evans threatening to call then-HPPD chief Shawn Boseman due to the officer’s failure to comply with her unlawful commands. She then proceeded to violate S.C. Code of Laws § 8-1-80 by threatening the officer’s salary.
“Alright … I pay your salary,” said Evans, who sits upon the mayor-council government that regulates HPPDs annual budget. “Yes, I do. I say how much money you make a month … I ain’t gonna stop paying you if you start doing your job.”
Despite her assertions, Evans’ tenant was eventually permitted to retrieve her medication under the watchful eyes of HPPD. Boseman thereafter arrived on-scene and commended his personnel for protecting the rights of Evans’ constituent.
“I had just transferred and I didn’t know who Ms. Evans was,” the former HPPD officer added. “For the next few months, I was in fear that my paycheck was going to be altered or tampered with … the statement was made several times that I had a target on my back.”
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THE “COVER-UP …”
Within hours of Evan’s failed eviction, the responding officer filed a verbal complaint against the councilwoman alleging official misconduct in office; a punishable offense of no more than $1,000 and imprisonment of no more than one year if convicted.
HPPD personnel thereafter called Honea Path mayor Christopher W. Burton and notified him of the councilwoman’s indisputable actions — to which the freshman politician appears to have disregarded the complaint as soon as it was filed.
Of interest? When FITSNews called Burton on Tuesday (April 16, 2024), he was purportedly “not abreast” on the incident and referred us to HPPD chief Chris Miller before eventually asking that we text him the body-worn camera footage.
We thereafter read Evans’ remarks to Burton, an assistant professor of mechatronics at Greenville Technical College (GTC), who responded following a four-second pause thusly: “Sure. Was that the gist of it?”
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“I didn’t think I would be, but I’m shocked,” said the former HPPD officer in response to Burton’s comment. “That’s way more disrespectful than I ever could have imagined. That lets us know that he thinks even less of the officers than we thought.”
While Burton denied official comment until forwarding the body-worn camera footage to the town’s attorney, the author was advised that it would take “at least” two weeks for a potential response as their representation remains in a foreign country until April 26, 2024.
“They seem to forget that they wouldn’t have a city without cops,” continued the former officer. “We worked so much overtime they had to allot an overtime budget just for us. But the fact that nothing was done about a councilwoman threatening our pay? That sealed the deal for me.”
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THE “MISSING” FOOTAGE …
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FITSNews cold-called councilwoman Evans on March 25, 2024, in hopes the school improvement council (SIC) member for Honea Path Elementary School (HPE) would share her side of the developing narrative. Instead, she instructed us to call her back “in about ten minutes” which resulted in a voicemail.
The following afternoon, the author connected with chief Miller — appointed by the town in May 2023 — who agreed to research the incident before prefacing that HPPD had “serious issues” with record-keeping before his chiefship.
Come April Fools’ Day, Miller divulged that a “year’s worth of incident reports” were lost as the HPPD writing software was corrupted. He furthermore confirmed that “issues” arose with their previously utilized WatchGuard camera system, and that Evans’ incident had wholly disappeared.
While Miller had agreed to an interview on the aforementioned anomalies, he stopped responding to phone calls from this author after an anonymous source provided FITSNews with the body-worn camera footage exposing Evan’s misconduct.
“The only thing they don’t have are the incident reports,” said an anonymous source familiar with HPPD. “So, anything they’re saying they don’t have is just them refusing to hand it over. Everything is within the cloud and within their house. Everything is on their server.”
Multiple police officers across Anderson County have since called for Evan’s resignation — citing her documented candor as “narcissistic,” “bothersome” and “unapologetic.” She has since gone quiet and failed to respond to one final call placed by the author on Tuesday.
“It is within several members’ best interests that they resign now,” concluded the former officer. “If the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division [SLED] comes through Honea Path with an audit, people are going to jail … This is only the beginning. I’m not stopping here.”
This story may be updated.
UPDATE| On Friday (April 19, 2024), SLED confirmed they were called to investigate “allegations of potential financial crimes” by HPPD on October 12, 2023.
PHOTO ILLUSTRATIONS BY ANDREW FANCHER
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR …
Andrew Fancher is a Lone Star Emmy award-winning journalist from Dallas, Texas. Cut from a bloodline of outlaws and lawmen alike, he was the first of his family to graduate college which was accomplished with honors. Got a story idea or news tip for Andy? Email him directly and connect with him socially across Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.
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1 comment
Demographics?