Man charged with assault of teen extradited to Florence County

Credit: MORNING NEWS/JOHN D. RUSSELL

Chase McClary is escorted by Florence County Sheriff's Deputies into the County Law Enforcement Complex upon arriving from Charlotte, NC. McClary is charged with assault and battery of a high and aggravated nature in connection with the August assault of a Florence County teenager.

By: Traci Bridges | SCNOW
Published: September 21, 2010

FLORENCE — A man charged in the recent assault of a Florence teenager is back in Florence County.
Chase Lewis McClary, 22, whose address was listed as 325 Evans Road in Johnsonville, was booked at the Florence County Detention Center just before 2 p.m. Tuesday. McClary will appear before a judge at 9 a.m. Wednesday for a bond hearing on charges of assault and battery of a high and aggravated nature, Florence County Sheriff Kenney Boone said.
McClary had been in custody at the Charlotte-Mecklinburg Detention Center since he was arrested there Sept. 2 in connection with the Aug. 20 assault of 16-year-old West Florence High School student Donnivin Brown outside a house in Florence County’s Brandon Woods subdivision.
Brown was outside of the residence with friends when a man he didn’t know approached him and struck him in the head with a coffee mug. Witnesses said the coffee mug broke and the man continued to strike and cut Brown with the jagged, broken pieces. Brown suffered deep lacerations to his face, neck and head that required nearly 200 stitches.
Of the 14 or so people present, Brown was the only African-American, and some of the witnesses said the assailant repeatedly called Brown a (racial epithet) as he was striking and cutting him.
The matter has been turned over the the FBI and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for review under the federal hate crime statute. Federal statutes permit the prosecution of hate crimes committed on the basis of a person’s protected characteristics of race, religion, ethnicity, nationality, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity and/or disability.
Boone said the case file was turned over to local FBI agents, who forwarded the information to Department of Justice attorneys in Washington, D.C.
“The Department of Justice attorneys will review the case and determine how they want to handle it from here,” Boone said. “Then they’ll notify the local FBI office and us as to whether they plan to pursue a federal case.”
In the meantime, Boone said sheriff’s investigators will pursue the state assault charge to the fullest. Assault and battery of a high and aggravated nature carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison.

Man charged with assault of teen extradited to Florence County

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