A Bluffton police chase reached 108 mph. The initial stop was for a broken tag light
Officer Conor Fredericks of the Bluffton Police Department was doing a routine patrol on May River Road in the early morning of Sept. 25 when he spotted a white Chevrolet sedan in the opposite direction with a defective tag light.
He turned his car around to investigate.
Nearly 20 minutes later, after a pursuit reaching 108 mph, he arrested that driver.
Fredericks now faces discipline for initiating a chase over a traffic infraction, for reaching speeds double the legal speed limit in some areas, and for giving conflicting answers about the reason to pursue, according to police documents.
“I want to say Fredericks is an exceptional officer, he’s just inexperienced,” said Capt. Joe Babkiewicz, spokesperson for the department. The agency undergoes a review process whenever there is a pursuit to identify policy violations, if any occurred.
The review for Fredericks, who started work in Bluffton in 2019, occurred on Thursday. A formal reprimand was added to his personnel file, along with requirements for retraining.
“The pursuit should not have happened, and he realizes that.”
What happened?
Fredericks turned around to follow the driver, Antwaune Jordan, of Hardeeville, on May River Road around 2:30 a.m. He wrote in an incident report that when he was behind Jordan, the driver turned abruptly onto Whispering Pine Street.
Fredericks turned on his blue lights and Jordan “rapidly increased speed into a dense residential area in an apparent attempt to evade the stop,” he wrote.
At the beginning of the chase, the officer told dispatchers that he was pursuing on “suspicion of DUI.”
That would prove to be false.
“He later stated he was pursuing for a license plate violation,” according to the review of his pursuit.
Fredericks followed Jordan through a residential neighborhood north of May River Road, with the two driving 65 mph in a 30-mph zone.
The 18-minute, 16-second chase snaked from Bluffton Road to Bluffton Parkway to Simmonsville Road to U.S. 278 to Buckwalter Parkway and finally ended on Buck Island Road, according to the pursuit report.
The chase ignored red traffic lights, speed limits and stop signs. Two other Bluffton officers joined the pursuit.
Jordan lost control of the vehicle, spun out, and hit a tree in the median of Buck Island Road, according to Fredericks’ report. Jordan ran from the wrecked car toward Eagles Field.
A Beaufort County Sheriff’s deputy in between Jordan and the field fired his taser twice at him but missed all four prongs, according to a Sheriff’s Office report.
Bluffton officers arrested Jordan, who was hiding on a deck on Eagles Field.
Attempts to reach Jordan were unsuccessful on Thursday.
Consequences
The pursuit resulted in six charges for Jordan: reckless driving, fleeing to evade arrest, possessing alcohol in car with broken seal, driving under suspension 2nd offense, failing to stop for blue light, and a seatbelt violation, according to court records.
He is out on bond.
Officer Fredericks was found to have violated Bluffton police policy on chases, the pursuit report said.
“An officer may not engage in a motor vehicle pursuit of a person who has committed only a non-violent felony, a misdemeanor, a criminal traffic offense, a traffic infraction or a combination thereof,” according to Bluffton Police guidelines.
Babkiewiecz said Thursday’s review will serve as a lesson for the officer.
“When we talk about discipline, we want it to change behavior rather than be punitive,” he said. “They can see where they went wrong. It’s a learning experience for them, so it doesn’t happen again.”
This story was originally published October 1, 2020 at 1:11 PM.
