SC S0553

Honors seven law enforcement officers from Oconee County and Pickens County Sheriff's Offices for receiving the South Carolina Sheriffs' Association 2024 Medal of Valor Award, to be presented at the awards banquet in Columbia on April 23, 2025

Recognizes actions from November 16, 2023, when officers responded to a traffic stop that escalated into a high-speed pursuit at 100 mph after a non-cooperative driver fled the scene

Corporal Lucas Watts was shot in the head during an exchange of gunfire when the suspect exited his vehicle and fired multiple shots at deputies' vehicles

Fellow officers transported the wounded corporal for medical help while others engaged the suspect, who retreated into a travel trailer with an assault-type rifle before being injured in subsequent gunfire exchange

Directs that copies of the resolution be presented to Corporal Lucas Watts, Captain Thomas Crompton, Lieutenant Justin Murphy, Corporal Chris Johnson, Staff Sergeant Charles Mulwee, First Sergeant David Carr, and Deputy First Class Tyler Bishop