Red Bank, SC (Paul Kirby) - A man that was found injured and bleeding from a shoulder wound at the old Village Store, now rebranded Circle K, on Platt Springs Road in Red Bank Wednesday night was injured during an altercation according to a highly redacted report from the Lexington County Sheriff's Department. That injured man was transported by Lexington County EMS to Prisma Health’s Palmetto Richland Hospital in Columbia for treatment. All of the names in the report were redacted prior to it being sent to The Lexington Ledger.
In the LCSD report the deputy wrote a narrative that states he responded to a call for assistance at the store at 9:32 p.m. on Wednesday, October 28th, 2020. When he arrived, he found a man he recognized from a call earlier in his shift lying on the sidewalk of the business bleeding from a laceration on his shoulder. The deputy immediately rendered first aid applying direct pressure to the wound in attempt to stop the bleeding until Lexington County EMS arrived. The deputy said that the inured man was in and out of consciousness during this time and he attempted to keep him man alert until EMS arrived. That crew quickly transported the man to Prisma Health’s Palmetto Richland campus for treatment.
A witness that was on the scene and had been with the man when the altercation occurred told the deputy that she and the injured man were both walking down the road. She admitted that they both had been drinking. She said that the man she was with was, “speaking his mind and someone did not like this and jumped him.” The confrontation apparently took place between the two men near the fuel islands of the store.
The witness did provide the deputy with a description of the assailant and his vehicle. She described the other combatant as a white, stocky man who was balding on the top of his head. He also had a full beard. She described the vehicle he was driving as an older model white Ford 4-door pickup truck that was pulling a boat. She said she had no idea who that man was.
At some point, an altercation began between the man from the truck and the man she had been drinking with. One of the men produced a crowbar and eventually, pushed the other up against the truck while holding the crowbar to the other’s neck. The two men began fighting for control of the crowbar and the man who was injured eventually fell to the ground. The other man again pressed the crowbar against his neck. The woman told the deputy that she was not sure at what point the injured man got the laceration to his shoulder.
After the injured man was transported from the scene by the ambulance the deputy put up crime scene tape, secured the scene, and began reviewing the footage from the store’s surveillance video system. He wrote in his report that on that video a white, older model truck pulling a boat turned into the gas station parking lot and pulled up to a gas pumps just before the altercation began. The deputy continued by writing that an unknown individual got out of the vehicle and began what he thought looked like tending to the boat. He never bought any fuel because the pump was out of service. Shortly thereafter, the vehicle pulled out of the gas station without ever making any purchase. The deputy was able to make a copy of the video footage and provide it to his supervisor.
Investigators from the Major Crimes unit were notified along with the watch commander. All the evidence the deputy had collected was turned over to them.
The deputy did say that the call that he responded to earlier was regarding two men who were neighbors on Wilma Anne Drive. Those men we're having a dispute between each other. The report does not say whether the two men that were fighting at the store were the men from the earlier call. The deputy’s report does not indicate that an arrest was made.
Captain Adam Myrick, spokesman for the Sheriff's Department, provided no further information regarding this incident. It remains under investigation.
