Ed Robinson: Florence Police assaulted seizure patient

Questions have been raised about the origins of a 33-year-old man’s injuries following an Oct. 28 incident involving Florence Police and Florence County EMS workers.

Florence City Councilman Ed Robinson said residents are outraged after a crowd of bystanders said they witnessed police officers injuring a man having a seizure on Pine Street.

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Robinson has scheduled a meeting about the matter for today at 7 p.m. at Levy Park.

Robinson said police knew the man had a history of seizures but brutalized him anyway.

Florence Police counter that the injuries were self-inflicted during his seizure well before officers responded and tried to subdue him so he could be treated.

Florence Police Chief Anson Shells said bystanders witnessed the struggle between police and the patient and thought the police were attacking the man.

“Come on. The police are just flat outright not telling something that’s true ... there’s no way I can believe this, ” Robinson said.

Police responded to 833 E. Pine St. at 9:13 a.m. after Florence County EMS workers requested assistance in restraining a disorderly patient, according to a Florence Police Department incident report.

The officer on the scene wrote that he noticed a large wound on the right side of the patient’s face and that he was bleeding from the wound and his mouth.

EMS workers told the officer the man had suffered a seizure and had fallen, according to the incident report.

In the report, the officer said the man appeared disoriented and began to babble sounds but no words.

An EMS worker began to pull a stretcher from the ambulance, and that’s when the patient began to scream and fight the worker, according to the report.

The officer said he ordered the workers to let go of the man because he feared he would injure them.

The patient continued to scream while jogging out of the apartment complex and headed East on Pine Street.

Meanwhile, the officer called for assistance from another police officer who told him he was familiar with the patient’s medial condition.

The two officers tried to detain the patient, who pulled away and spat blood at the officers before starting to run again, according to the report.

Each of the officers tased the patient once before he swung at them, according to the report.

A baton, referred to as “ASP” in the incident report, was directed at the patient’s right knee, which caused him to fall.

A struggle ensued as the patient continued to scream and spit blood, according to the report.

“ ... His screams and cries were heard a block and a half away — more than that,” Robinson said. “He was tased two to three times by (police).”

According to the incident report, the patient bit one of the officer’s fingers and snapped at another.

One officer put his knee and his foot on the patient’s chest to keep him from spitting blood, according to the report.

Chief Shells said it took five police officers to restrain the man.

At least two officers had to change uniforms because they were stained with the blood that was spat at them, according to the report.

“He took off running, he started running in the street, and officers chased him down to keep him from hurting himself,” the chief said.

Shells said EMS confirmed the man had the injuries before police subdued him.

“During the struggle, witnesses saw five officers wrestling with this person,” Shells said. “They thought the officers were beating this man up.

“If it took five officers to do that, then that’s what it took. It’s a sad situation. If they hadn’t ... God knows what could have happened to him.”

Shells said he gathered information about the incident and determined there isn’t cause to put any officers involved in the case on administrative leave.

As a precaution, an internal investigation has been launched and the State Law Enforcement Division has been contacted about the matter so that the agency can investigate the incident, Shells said.