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A Georgia man was convicted and sentenced to decades in prison this week after shooting a South Carolina Highway Patrol (SCHP) trooper in the face during a traffic stop in rural Bamberg County two years ago.
Derrick Gathers, 38, of Augusta, Georgia was sentenced to thirty-eight (38) years in prison by S.C. circuit court judge Walton McLeod IV after a Bamberg County jury found him guilty of attempted murder, failure to stop for blue lights and possession of a weapon during the commission of a violent crime.
Gathers was tried by deputy S.C. second circuit solicitor David Miller and senior assistant solicitor Leigh Staggs.
As FITSNews reported at the time, Gathers shot SCHP Lance Corporal Bentrice A. Frazier, 55, of Fairfax, S.C. in the face during a routine traffic stop on U.S. Highway 78 between Bamberg and Denmark, S.C. at approximately 3:30 a.m. EDT on the morning of Sunday, April 16, 2023.
According to the S.C. State Law Enforcement Division (SLED) – which led the investigation into the shooting – Frazier was conducting a traffic stop on a speeding Mazda SUV in Denmark, S.C. with the assistance of deputy Dwayne Duckson of the Bamberg County Sheriff’s Office (BCSO).
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“As the trooper approached the vehicle, (Gathers) presented a handgun and shot the trooper in the head with the intent to kill the trooper,” a probable cause affidavit accompanying the warrants for his arrest noted. “(Gathers) fired additional rounds at Bamberg County deputy sheriff Dwayne Duckson with the intent to kill the deputy.”
“The trooper and deputy returned fire, striking the vehicle as Gathers drove away,” SLED noted in its statement.
Gathers fled the scene in the Mazda SUV as a host of law enforcement officers initiated pursuit efforts. The vehicle eventually crashed into a home in the small town of Branchville, S.C. in neighboring Orangeburg County. After a brief hospitalization at the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC), Gathers was taken into custody by SLED and has remained detained at the Bamberg County detention center ever since.
Thankfully, Frazier survived his injuries and has recovered from them, according to prosecutors.
Gathers has a lengthy criminal record dating back two decades. In December 2005, he was convicted of rape and criminal sexual conduct in Broome County, New York – which landed him on the sex offender registry. At the time of the shooting, he was listed on Georgia’s sex offender registry under the aliases “Assassin,” “Tiger” and ‘Tragedy.”
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While the state-level charges against Gathers have been disposed of, he is still facing a federal weapons charge. Specifically, federal prosecutors have charged him with possessing a 9mm SigSauer P320 pistol and several rounds of 9mm ammunition at the time of the traffic stop.
Gathers could face up to fifteen years in prison on the federal charge.
Regular members of the FITSNews audience are aware of our penchant for criticizing South Carolina’s justice system for routinely coddling violent criminals with lenient bonds, lowball plea agreements and lax sentences.
Thankfully, none of that happened in this case. Investigators, prosecutors, jurors and the judge all did their jobs to ensure a violent criminal was held accountable for his actions with a punishment befitting his crime.
Let’s hope we continue to see this sort of accountability as the rule – rather than the exception – from police, prosecutors and judges in South Carolina.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR …
Will Folks is the founding editor of the news outlet you are currently reading. Prior to founding FITSNews, he served as press secretary to the governor of South Carolina. He lives in the Midlands region of the state with his wife and eight children.
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1 comment
Good