A man died in custody. Irmo police have a lot of explaining to do | Opinion
A man is dead — Who? How? Why? — and two police officers were placed on administrative leave — Paid? Unpaid? When? — after what the Irmo Police Department described late Friday as “an altercation with officers before being taken into custody” that took place early Sunday morning, five days earlier.
The June 17 news release on the June 22 incident is a case study in how not to announce a terrible situation like this. The public places its faith in police officers to protect and serve and to also be forthright when unexpected situations arise, and heaven forbid, tragedy results.
The news release says that Irmo police officers responded to a report of a possible fight inside a vehicle in the New Friarsgate area just after 2 a.m. on Sunday. It says they approached the vehicle and then chased it when it drove away. The pursuit ended by a Dollar General store on Broad River Road, where the “altercation” occurred with the man who was alone in the vehicle.
The release says the man began to have trouble breathing shortly after being restrained, that officers and emergency medical services personnel initiated life-saving measures and that he was taken to a hospital. The release says the department was notified Wednesday that he died. It characterizes his death as an “in-custody death” but doesn’t specify when he died or what caused his death.
So many questions: Who is the dead man? What exactly happened to him? Why did police use such force? Will the body-cam footage required by state law be made public? Is there dash-cam footage? The Irmo Police Department has discretion to release the video, and certainly should in this case when so much is unclear about the “altercation.”
The South Carolina Law Enforcement Division is investigating the episode, but that doesn’t mean that the Irmo Police Department has to keep so much information to itself at this stage.
The public has the right to know how this unfolded. It also has the right to know the names and years of service of the officers. More information should have been provided in the initial news release and that release should not have been emailed to media outlets at 4:36 p.m. on a Friday.
That’s more than five full days after the incident that ended so badly the man was given CPR, taken to the hospital and died. It’s also just 24 minutes before the Richland and Lexington County coroner’s offices closed for the day and the week.
Irmo is in both counties. An email sent to and a voice mail left with the Lexington County coroner and an email sent to the Richland County Coroner’s Office after 5 p.m. seeking information on a manner and cause of death were not returned Friday night.
I wouldn’t fault a coroner for that. After hours is after hours.
I do fault the police department, though.
The department’s release included a three-sentence statement attributed to Police Chief Bobby Dale that began, “This is a tragic situation, and our thoughts are with the family and loved ones of the individual involved. We take incidents like this with the utmost seriousness and are fully cooperating with SLED’s independent investigation.”
That part hit just the right note of humanity and gravity.
Then the comment became laughable. The chief was quoted as saying, “Our commitment is to transparency, accountability, and ensuring the public’s trust in our department remains strong.”
Commitment to transparency and accountability and ensuring the public trust? The department’s lack of detail left me with lots of questions. The chief’s lack of self-awareness left me with more.
Is he serious?
Let’s review the timeline:
Again, the incident happened five days earlier, in the wee hours of Sunday, June 22, when it escalated from police chase to altercation to restraint to shortness of breath to CPR to a hospital transport. Those details alone were worth making public that day or by Monday, June 23, when SLED was called in to conduct its investigation.
Then the department was notified Wednesday, June 25, “that the individual had passed away.”
Again, that was worth notifying the public at that time.
Yet it wasn’t until Friday, June 27, more than five days after the altercation and two days after being notified of the death, that the department sent out its news release.
That’s unacceptable.
If the chief truly wants to be seen as transparent and accountable and ensure the public’s trust remains strong, he should have a news conference as soon as possible, release video of the episode, release the names of the officers involved and share more about what happened.
He shouldn’t wait on any of that.
Yet the Irmo Police Department’s news release ended with this line: “No further information will be released at this time pending the results of the ongoing investigation.”
So much for transparency and trust.
Police officers have some of the most difficult jobs on the planet. But those demanding jobs come with great responsibility. Tragic incidents like this reduce trust unless the department acts as the chief said it intends. He says there’s a commitment to transparency and a desire for trust, but his actions tell a different story. They tell the opposite story. It’s not too late to come clean, chief.
The man’s family deserves answers. The public does, too. Or do you not mean what you said?
Editor’s note: This column was published at at 6:51 p.m. on Friday, June 27. Richland County Coronor Naida Rutherford released the man’s name at 1:27 p.m. on Monday, June 30, identifying him as Byron Jackson, 45, of North Augusta.
This story was originally published June 27, 2025 at 6:51 PM with the headline "A man died in custody. Irmo police have a lot of explaining to do | Opinion."