Man shot at Tanger after dragging deputy with car has past drugs, weapons arrests

A man shot during a traffic stop Friday after allegedly dragging an officer through a Tanger Outlets 2 parking lot had been arrested before on local drug and weapons charges.

They include a chase on Hilton Head last year, an attempted murder charge in Ridgeland two years ago, and a robbery at a Hilton Head park in 2012.

Neither the Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office nor the S.C. Law Enforcement Division, which is handling Friday’s investigation, have commented on his criminal record.

According to the Sheriff’s Office, Jenkins, 21, injured a Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office deputy about 5:45 p.m. Friday when he placed his car in reverse between Nike Factory Store and Gap Outlet, trapping Sgt. Raymond Heroux in the open driver’s side door. Heroux pulled his gun and fired several shots at Jenkins, who was in stable condition Sunday at Memorial University Medical Center in Savannah.

But before airlifting Jenkins to the hospital, EMS treated him in the Bluffton outlet’s parking lot and found at least 10 grams of cocaine, enough for officers to charge him with a felony upon his release, according to the Sheriff’s Office. No charges have been filed as of Sunday afternoon.

He was arrested in Beaufort County as early as 2012 on charges of manufacturing or possessing with intent to distribute a controlled substance, strong-arm robbery and second-degree burglary. He ultimately pleaded guilty to possession of less than an ounce of marijuana and third-degree burglary.

Jenkins, then 17, was one of five Hilton Head Islanders between 15 and 20 years old to be arrested after they met two other teenagers at Green Shell Park on the north end under the guise of playing a basketball game, according to a report. Instead, they allegedly pushed one of the teens to the ground, injuring his face, and robbed him of his wallet.

He was sentenced to 11 days in jail, with credit for time served, and six years in prison under the Youthful Offenders Act, suspended to three years probation with substance abuse counseling and random drug and alcohol testing.

But he violated his probation when he was arrested again in February 2014 and charged with attempted murder and possession of a stolen pistol.

That arrest followed two shootings at the Woodridge Apartments complex on Shadetree Street in Ridgeland. The first injured a man’s leg and the second, believed to be an act of retaliation, left an apartment unit riddled with bullets.

Jenkins, then 19, was the youngest of six people charged with attempted murder in that incident.

He ultimately pleaded down to discharging a firearm into a dwelling and received five years probation; the other weapons charge was dismissed. In September 2015, Beaufort County Court ordered him to serve one year in the S.C. Department of Corrections for violating his earlier probation.

Most recently, Jenkins pleaded guilty in January to one count of drug possession, stemming from a March 2015 arrest. Beaufort County Court dismissed six other charges from the same arrest — possession of a stolen vehicle, having contraband in prison, and four separate counts of drug possession.

Deputies called to Snyder Walk Road on Hilton Head for possible drug activity found Jenkins and three others sitting in a Kia Forte with all four doors open.

Though officers started to talk to a few men standing near the car, one suddenly jumped into the back and the driver sped off, leading deputies on a chase that ended at Blue Bell Lane — Jenkins’ last known address.

Though the others in the car ran, Jenkins was stopped by an officer who pulled his gun. Officers also found drugs in a backpack, but Jenkins, then 20, denied they were his.

He was sentenced to just one day in jail for his drug possession conviction. Though the drug arrest may have violated his five-year, 2015 probation, there is no mention of it in Jasper County’s online court records.

Additional information was not available Sunday.

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This story was originally published December 11, 2016 at 1:33 PM with the headline "Man shot at Tanger after dragging deputy with car has past drugs, weapons arrests."