More trooper videos released

COLUMBIA — The state Department of Public Safety released three more videos Monday of South Carolina troopers accused of mistreating motorists.

The Post and Courier, through the Freedom of Information Act, requested the videos after reviewing documents from nearly 150 internal affairs investigations for 2006 and 2007.

The videos were captured by troopers' dashboard cameras. They show:

-- Lance Cpl. J.B. Sawyer kicking New York resident Sergio Caridi in the head several times after he was subdued following a high-speed chase in May 2006 that ended on Interstate 95 in Sumter County.

Sawyer resigned from the Highway Patrol in August 2006. Sawyer and Caridi are both white.

-- Then-Cpl. Michael Tomson thrusting his shotgun against an object during a traffic stop just south of Branchville in November 2006, although the video does not show the whole incident.

Tomson, who is white, said while motioning for Demetrius Jones, who is black, to put his head down "the barrel of the gun made contact with his cheek." Jones, who said the trooper struck him in the face, needed stitches in his left cheek.

As a result of his actions during the stop, Tomson was demoted from corporal to lance corporal. His salary was reduced by 10 percent from $47,272 to $42,545 and he was reassigned from his troop in Orangeburg to another in Bamberg.

His demotion letter written by Public Safety Director James K. Schweitzer in February 2007 read: "Your aggressiveness exhibited in the videotape was unnecessary and unwarranted. Moreover, your use of the end of the shotgun barrel to push the passenger down was improper and could have resulted in dire consequences."

-- Lance Cpl. E.J. Burton striking Aaron Goodman in the back, neck and shoulder three times with his right hand and approximately four times with his left hand, in which he held a flashlight.

Goodman, who was a passenger in a car stopped for speeding in Sumter County in January 2006, did not appear to be injured or complain that he was, according to internal affairs documents.

Burton, who complied when an accompanying corporal called on him to "ease off," was not found to have used excessive force and was ordered to attend a counseling session in July 2006 where he was advised on how to improve his performance. Burton is white. Goodman's race is not listed on internal affairs documents and the video is not clear enough to distinguish his race.

The Post and Courier also obtained a fourth video that shows a white trooper using a Taser on a 25-year-old black woman on Jan. 27 in Colleton County after she repeatedly refused to cooperate. More information on the incident was not immediately available, as the case is still under review.

Since troopers were first issued Tasers last year, they have used them on 17 people, 11 of whom were black. Tasers were used 14 times by white troopers and three times by black troopers.

Still, state senators and others familiar with the situation have said they do not believe the problems being uncovered in the Highway Patrol are racially based, nor do they believe they are systemic.

The Senate will investigate the situation as part of its confirmation process to seat a new Public Safety director. Gov. Mark Sanford is expected to announce a nominee sometime this week.

Schweitzer and Highway Patrol Col. Russell Roark stepped down in late February under pressure by Gov. Mark Sanford after a first round of videotapes surfaced.