RIDGEWAY, S.C. (AP) – It’s been nearly three years since Gregory McDaniel was shot twice, losing a kidney, during a police drug raid on a South Carolina home where he was sleeping. But no one will tell McDaniel who shot him.
All he has is a brief police report from Fairfield County deputies that says an unidentified officer fired twice after he thought McDaniel was trying to “disarm him” during the Oct. 19, 2012 raid about 25 miles north of Columbia.
No other details about the shooting are given.
State investigators and prosecutors have refused to release the officer’s name, and his lawyer accuses them of stalling to prevent a costly lawsuit.
If McDaniel – who is awaiting trial on a cocaine trafficking charge from the raid – sues only the three sheriff’s offices that sent deputies that day, he can only recover $300,000 under state law, attorney Robert Phillips said. However, if McDaniel sues the individual officers for federal civil rights violations, there would be no cap on the award – likely being paid by liability insurance – but that lawsuit must be filed within three years of the shooting, his lawyer said.