Goose Creek man, Clayton E. Lemon Jr., charged with attempted murder of Folly Beach officer

A Goose Creek man faces charges he tried to run over a Folly Beach law enforcement officer who responded to a reported break-in to a vehicle in progress on Saturday.

“We arrested the man who tried to kill one of our officers,” Folly Beach Public Safety Department Chief Dennis Brown said Thursday.

He said Clayton Eugene Lemon Jr., 25, of Foxborough Road, is charged with attempted murder. Lemon was arrested at home and is being held at the Cannon Detention Center for a bond hearing expected Friday, Brown said.

The suspect was identified as a result of “a lot of hard work by detectives,” Brown said.

According to incident reports, Public Safety Department Officer Ralph Bryan fired shots at a truck the officer said tried to run him over. Bryan was working at a nearby wedding when he and several officers responded to reports that a man was seen trying to break into a silver Nissan on East Ashley Avenue.

Bryan headed to East Indian Avenue when the suspect and his Dodge truck were reported seen there, and about 7:20 p.m. notified a dispatcher that “shots had been fired due to the subject attempting to run him over with his truck,” according to the report.

All available officers responded, but the suspect drove the truck away, avoiding a perimeter that had been set up around the island. Area hospitals were checked, but no one fitting the suspect’s description came in with gunshot wounds, the report said.

The shooting is under investigation by the State Law Enforcement Division.