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According to the Greenville News, Gerald Sims of Greer, SC will remain on the job as a state transport police officer despite excessively speeding and killing a 91 year old man in an auto accident. This was the third time in four years Sims faced traffic charges. Sims was reprimanded and fined $186 after pleading guilty to driving his patrol car too fast for conditions. The reprimand was reported as a “level 1,” which is the lowest level of punishment for “minor offenses” and will be permanently filed on his personal record. Sims was also required to complete a defensive driving course.

“In the fatal crash, Sims was “treated just like any other citizen,” said his attorney, Frank Eppes. In the 2008 case as well as 2007 traffic charge, a magistrate judge found Sims not guilty during bench trials,” according to the news article.

On March 4, Sims was driving his marked patrol car 74 mph in a 45 mph zone as Thomas Everett Hancock tried to turn left, pulling into the path of Sims’ patrol car, which wasn’t in pursuit and didn’t have blue lights flashing. Investigators found that the collision occurred as a result of Hancock’s illegal left turn in front of Sims’ vehicle.

In a wrongful death lawsuit filed on behalf of Hancock’s estate, attorneys allege the Department of Public Safety was negligent and reckless in hiring Sims without a background check into his record. The suit, which asks for a jury trial and punitive damages, alleges Sims failed to yield right-of-way and “didn’t stop, swerve, slow down or take other evasive action.” In an answer to the suit, the department alleges Hancock was at fault and tried to “turn across the oncoming lane of traffic without first ascertaining that such movement could be made in relative safety.”

Source: Greenville News