Hilton Head man pleads guilty to injuring cop at Tanger 2 outlets and trafficking cocaine
A Hilton Head man accused of injuring a Beaufort County deputy with his car in 2016 and who was arrested in October in connection with a shooting at a Jasper County high school event pleaded guilty to charges of resisting law enforcement and trafficking cocaine on Wednesday.
Akeem Jenkins, 24, was sentenced to 10 years in prison on each charge by Judge Carmen Mullen in Beaufort County General Sessions Court. The sentences will be served concurrently.
The charges were related to an incident in which Jenkins was accused of injuring a Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office deputy during a traffic stop in the parking lot of Tanger Outlets 2 on Dec. 9, 2016, The Island Packet previously reported.
After Jenkins was pulled over near the outlet mall in Bluffton, he allegedly put his car in reverse while a deputy was standing near the open driver’s side door, trapping and dragging the officer through the parking lot. The deputy pulled his gun and fired several shots at Jenkins, according to reports.
“Mr. Jenkins posed a grave threat not only to the officer involved, but to all the bystanders who were in the area at that time,” Leigh Staggs of the 14th Circuit Solicitor’s Office, who prosecuted the case, said in a news release.
When Jenkins was treated for his gunshot wounds at Tanger 2, EMS allegedly found 48 grams of cocaine on his person — a felony offense, according to the news release. He was on probation at the time.
Ridgeland shooting
Jenkins was out on bond related to the Tanger incident when he was arrested and charged in connection with the Oct. 19 shooting at a Ridgeland High School homecoming event that left a 22-year-old man injured, the Packet previously reported.
He was charged with carrying a weapon on school property and possession of a weapon during violent crime. Those charges are pending, according to court records.
Jenkins has a history of drug and other arrests in both Beaufort and Jasper counties dating to 2012.
Jenkins has been “shuffling back and forth from jail to prison to probation,” a South Carolina Department of Probation, Parole, and Pardon Services official told the Packet in 2016.
In March 2015, Jenkins was charged with four offenses related to drugs and a police chase.
In February 2014, he was one of six people charged with attempted murder after a shooting in Ridgeland.
In July 2012, as a 17-year-old, he faced charged after a robbery on Hilton Head.
He was listed in the Jasper County Detention Center jail log as being “housed outside facility” as of Wednesday afternoon.
This story was originally published February 13, 2019 at 3:34 PM.
