Two Walterboro police officers sustained minor injuries Wednesday afternoon when a Walmart shoplifting incident quickly turned dangerous.
Wednesday at approximately 4 p.m., investigators from the Walterboro Police Department were at Walmart, collecting information on a shoplifting suspect who had been arrested at the business about 1 p.m.
Police Chief Wade Marvin said as the investigators were doing the follow-up, an employee told them the store had another shoplifting incident in progress.
“Our officers approached the suspect and tried to detain him. The suspect immediately started to resist arrest and tried to pull a firearm that was located on his side,” Marvin reported.
The officers were able to get the gun away from the suspect and take him into custody.
They deposited the suspect in the back of a police car, and while they were walking around to get in the car, the suspect reportedly slipped the handcuffs from behind his back to his front.
He then reportedly climbed through the divider separating the front and rear seats, got into the driver’s seat of the patrol car, put the patrol car in drive and attempted to drive off.
Two city police officers attempted to stop the suspect. One officer got in the front passenger seat and the second officer grabbed the driver after opening the driver’s-side door.
The officer at the driver’s door had to release the suspect because of the vehicle’s speed and jump out of the way of the vehicle.
The other officer remained in the front passenger side of the patrol car, trying to get the suspect to stop the vehicle.
The vehicle left the parking lot, struck a utility pole and a fence before coming to a stop in a grassy area between the Pioneer Boats facility and a large fenced-in retention pond.
After the crash, several officers on the scene detained the suspect.
Marvin said the officer who had remained inside the vehicle received a minor cut to his forehead. The officer who had jumped from the moving vehicle received minor injuries to his knee and hip.
After being apprehended, the suspect complained of shoulder pain. Marvin said the suspect also reportedly told officers that he was coming off of heroin.
Marvin said the suspect and the officer with the head injury were taken to the Colleton Medical Center for additional treatment as a precaution.
The patrol car sustained heavy damage, according to Marvin.
After visiting the emergency room the suspect, Jordan Blackwell, 21, of Fayetteville, N.C., was taken to the Colleton County Detention Center.
He was booked into the county jail on a North Carolina warrant on a charge of obstructing a court order.
Marvin said Blackwell will face “a laundry list” of local charges in connection with the incident.
Blackwell “appeared to have been passing through our county and is not a local resident,” Marvin added.
As the investigation was continuing, officers determined that the woman arrested for shoplifting earlier in the day at Walmart was Blackwell’s girlfriend and was traveling with him.
Officers found the couple’s car parked in the Walmart lot and had it towed from the scene for examination.
As the incident was unfolding, officers were reportedly told that the suspect had been in a van that was leaving the area. Police officers stopped the van on the roadway.
The two occupants of the van were detained and their vehicle searched until officers determined they were not involved in the incident.
