GREENVILLE, S.C. (WSPA) — The South Carolina Law Enforcement Division is investigating a man’s claims that a Greenville sheriff’s deputy used excessive force against him during an arrest in 2019. The suspect says the deputy shut his head inside a car door.
Body camera footage from the incident was released by local activist Bruce Wilson, who said the video was obtained during discovery. The video shows Stephon Hopkins, who is handcuffed, being pulled from the back of a patrol car onto the ground and a deputy subsequently shutting the door on his head
Hopkins was arrested after deputies responded to two 911 hang ups.
Upon arrival at the address, Deputy Jacob Walters reported Hopkins refused to stay and answer questions. Hopkins was tased twice and wrestled to the ground after a foot chase, according to the incident report. Walters reported he punched Hopkins in the face before handcuffing him.
“You put your handcuffs around like brass knuckles and punch me in my ——- head,” Hopkins is heard saying in the body cam video.
Walters is heard calling for backup. Video shows Walters struggling to pull Hopkins out of the car before he eventually pulls him to the ground.
Walters wrote in the incident report that Hopkins refused to stand up and that he “rolled and put his head in the way of the door. The door made contact with his head as I was trying to close it, but not hard enough to cause injury or anything.”
Hopkins and Wilson, who is representing him, said Hopkins didn’t roll in the door’s way.
“That’s ridiculous,” Wilson said. “And this whole notion that Mr. Hopkins rolled his head in the door….so he knew that the officer was going to slam the door? And he timed it so perfectly that he rolled over and put his head in that door because he doesn’t care about his head?”
Another deputy came to assist Walters in bringing Hopkins inside the detention center.
“This man just put my ——- head in the ——- door and slammed it,” Hopkins is heard saying in the video. “We got a lively one,” Walters is then heard saying. “He going to do it again if you don’t ——- stop,” said the law enforcement officer who came out to assist in bringing Hopkins inside.
Walters has been placed on administrative duty and is under internal investigation, according to the sheriff’s office spokesperson Lt. Ryan Flood.
Hopkins filed a lawsuit and a complaint with the sheriff’s office last week. In the suit, he said he now suffers from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and chronic pain. He’s asking for $2.1 million.
Hopkins pleaded no contest to resisting arrest.
NewsNation affiliated WSPA reviewed Walters’ personnel file and didn’t see any previous complaints or discipline in his more than ten years at the Greenville County Sheriff’s Office. He received high marks in his performance reviews and was promoted to sergeant at the end of last year.
