File photo of a police patrol car, not the Myrtle Beach vehicle. Photo: Kenneth Running/Unsplash
A marked Myrtle Beach, S.C., police car was filmed weaving through traffic and passing other vehicles on Wednesday, and the Myrtle Beach Police Department says the person behind the wheel was not a police officer. The video has drawn more than 400,000 views on Facebook, according to WMBF News, which did not name who posted it. I have not verified the original upload, so what follows rests on the department’s own description of the driving and on WMBF’s reporting.
What the department and the chief said
In a post on its Facebook page, the department said it was aware of the video. On Oct. 21, WMBF reported the department’s statement: the driver is a member of its professional staff, not a sworn officer, and was taking the car to have equipment installed. A supervisor, the department said, addressed the incident and took corrective action, and the driving does not reflect the standards expected of the department or the city. WMBF’s two reports describe the lighting differently, so I am saying only that it happened Wednesday.
The next day Chief Frederick Chambers told WMBF he was disappointed. “That was my reaction, just disappointed that you know that we have to deal with that type of behavior,” he said. He said support staff handle jobs such as moving vehicles to be serviced or fitted with equipment, and the department said the car was not an active unit. An internal investigation is open and discipline will follow, Chambers said, but he added: “We can’t disclose the results when it’s internal, but it is investigated.” He had not spoken with the driver, whom he described as apologetic and accepting responsibility. The driver has not been named, and the department has not said what the discipline will be.
A police car with no emergency to claim
South Carolina lets the driver of an authorized emergency vehicle break some traffic rules, but only on specific jobs. Under S.C. Code § 56-5-760, those privileges apply when the driver is responding to an emergency call, pursuing an actual or suspected violator, or responding to a fire alarm. The listed privileges include exceeding the speed limit if the driver does not endanger life or property, and disregarding rules on direction of movement. Even then the statute says the driver is not relieved of the duty to drive with due regard for everyone’s safety.
A car the department calls inactive, on its way to get equipment installed, fits none of those categories. It had the same passing rules as any other vehicle. Under § 56-5-1860, a driver may not cross to the left of the center of the roadway to pass unless the left side is clearly visible and free of oncoming traffic for enough distance to finish the pass, and must be back in an authorized lane before coming within 200 feet of an approaching vehicle. Whether the video shows a driver who met that test is a question for the footage and any investigators. Marked paint and a light bar do not change which of those rules applies.
What a civilian could face, and what the public will learn
South Carolina’s reckless driving statute, § 56-5-2920, covers driving with wilful or wanton disregard for safety, and carries a fine of $25 to $200 or up to 30 days in jail, according to the text printed in House Bill 4773, a pending proposal to change that section. A citation like that is a public court record. WMBF’s reports on the department’s statements do not mention a ticket for this driver. What the department described is a personnel matter, and the chief said the investigation’s results will not be disclosed. Drivers who are stopped, like the Florida driver Backfire News covered recently, end up with allegations in a court file. An internal review ends in a personnel file.
The money question is also open. If the car had hit someone, a claim against a South Carolina city would be measured against the state Tort Claims Act, which caps recovery at $300,000 per person and $600,000 per occurrence under § 15-78-120(a). No crash has been reported in this case. I could not find a published Myrtle Beach Police Department policy on who may drive marked vehicles, and the chief did not describe one, so whether the rule is written down is unconfirmed.
Next steps for the department
The department has given no date for the end of its investigation and has said discipline will not be disclosed with the results. The city has appeared in Backfire News coverage before over how people drive there, when Mustang Week was told it was no longer welcome. The department has said the driver took responsibility. It has not said whether anyone outside the building will see the outcome.
Should a police department have to publish the outcome when an employee is caught on video driving a marked car dangerously, or is discipline strictly an internal matter between the department and its staff?
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