Richland County Master Deputy Sheriff Kyle Oliver, 29, has been fired and arrested after he was caught on video assaulting a woman who was in custody.
Oliver was arrested last week but the video encounter is from January 2020 in Richland County, South Carolina.
Oliver is charged with assault and battery third degree, WISTV News reports. Oliver also had a pending lawsuit against him in a separate matter.
Richland County Sheriff Leon Lott says he didn’t find out about the incriminating video until August 31. Lott’s staff learned about the incident from someone outside of the department, Lott then ordered an immediate criminal investigation and a review of body cam footage.
The woman had been arrested for a domestic violence incident and taken to Region Four headquarters. As she was sitting on a bench handcuffed behind the back, Lott said she began to bang her head against the wall, putting a hole in the wall. Oliver is seen walking over to her, grabbing her by the hair, and swinging her to the ground.
Oliver allegedly lied on his use of force report from the incident, and that is more reason why the case went undetected for so long.
The sheriff’s department consulted with the Fifth Circuit Solicitor’s Office after seeing the video, which resulted in an arrest warrant for Oliver.
Lott says:
“When we fail as an agency we take quick, swift action and we do it publicly. This is one of those days you stand up here and shake your head and you wonder why there’s something like this. The reason why we have these cameras is to monitor the deputies and their activities. The incident revealed a failure in the department’s check and balances of use-of-force reports.”
As a result of Oliver’s assault case, Sheriff Lott says he is creating a new position within the department. The role of this new investigator will be to review body camera footage of use-of-force incidents.
Same Deputy is Defendant in Lawsuit
Oliver is also named in a lawsuit that claims he and another deputy entered a woman’s home, guns drawn, without a warrant. The lawsuit claims on September 1, 2018 in Chapin, SC Oliver and another deputy were investigating a car that ran into a ditch, hit a few trees and left the scene. The lawsuit says deputies were not given a detailed description of the driver other than the driver was a female.
The suit says the deputies went into the woman’s home, woke her and her family up and forced her to go outside to speak with them.
“If any private citizen committed the same actions as Oliver and his partner, that private citizen could be charged with the crimes of burglary and kidnapping,” the lawsuit said.