On Tuesday, The Daily Beast reported that Sheriff Charles Lemon of Marlboro County, South Carolina has been charged for allegedly ordering a deputy to use a taser on an inmate who was already in custody.
"Marlboro County Sheriff Charles Lemon and former Deputy David Andrew Cook were both indicted on assault and battery and misconduct charges Tuesday in connection with a May 2020 incident involving Jarrell Lee Johnson of Bennettsville at the county jail, according to the South Carolina Attorney General’s Office," reported Pilar Melendez. "The indictment alleges that Lemon ordered Cook to deploy his Taser on Johnson at the Marlboro County Detention Center at least twice — including the chest and leg — to subdue him, even though the man was already 'inside the jail.'"
In a press release issued after the indictments, Republican Gov. Henry McMaster stated that his office is "suspending Lemon from office and appointing former Bennettsville Chief of Police Larry McNeil to serve as interim sheriff until Lemon is acquitted, convicted, the indictment is otherwise disposed of, or until a sheriff is elected and qualifies in the next general election."
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The incident, wrote Melendez, is one of many in a state with a pervasive pattern of misconduct by sheriffs.
"Shifting ideas about what constitutes legit law enforcement in the state have helped land a long list of South Carolina sheriffs and deputies in hot water," reported Melendez. "Among them are Florence Sheriff Kenny Boone, who pleaded guilty last December to a domestic violence charge, former Berkeley County Sheriff Way DeWitt — who quit after allegations of sexual harassment surfaced after his DUI arrest — and former Greenville County Sheriff Will Lewis, who was sentenced to a year in prison using public resources to arrange an affair."
You can read more here.
