SC man dies after leading law enforcement chase, but crash didn’t kill him, coroner says
A South Carolina man who led a sheriff’s deputy on a chase later killed himself after crashing on Interstate 20, the Aiken County Coroner’s Office said Thursday.
Robert J. Johnson II, a 43-year-old Beech Island resident, died at the scene from a self-inflicted gunshot wound, Coroner Darryl Ables said in a news release.
At about 6:15 p.m. Wednesday, a deputy with the Aiken County Sheriff’s Office was in pursuit of the vehicle being driven by Johnson, according to the release.
Information about why the deputy tried to pull over Johnson was not available, and there was no word on the speeds of the vehicles involved in the chase.
The pursuit continued to the 9 mile marker in the westbound lanes of I-20, Ables said. That’s where the deputy utilized a PIT maneuver that caused Johnson’s vehicle to crash into a guardrail, according to the release.
There was no word about what happened after the crash and what led Johnson to turn a gun on himself. Information on charges Johnson might have faced was not available.
No other injuries were reported.
An autopsy will be conducted in Newberry on Friday, Ables said.
Both the coroner’s office and the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division are continuing to investigate the death.
All of the westbound lanes on I-20 near Exit 11 in Graniteville were temporarily blocked following the 7:47 p.m. crash, and the scene wasn’t cleared until about 1:40 a.m., according to the South Carolina Department of Transportation. A detour was set up to help drivers avoid the area, according to North Augusta Public Safety.
In 2016, Johnson pleaded guilty to a grand larceny charge, Aiken County court records show.
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This story was originally published July 27, 2023 at 1:19 PM with the headline "SC man dies after leading law enforcement chase, but crash didn’t kill him, coroner says."
