A Greenville County deputy has been fired after internal-affairs investigators determined he handled a man's arrest inappropriately.

Deputy James Pregel, who was on the Greenville County Sheriff's Office's directed patrol unit, was terminated from employment on Sept. 11, spokesman Lt. Ryan Flood confirmed to The Greenville News Wednesday.

Flood said Pregel was terminated for "conduct unbecoming" in connection to the arrest of Zebbie Hudgens, of Taylors, on Aug. 1.

A review of Pregel's file from the state Criminal Justice Academy states that he was "willfully making false, misleading, incomplete, deceitful or incorrect statements" as it related to the arrest.

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Hudgens' attorney, Jake Erwin, said Hudgens was unaware of who was approaching him in a parking lot when deputies slammed him to the ground on Aug. 1. Erwin began representing Hudgens as of Tuesday.

The News has submitted Freedom of Information Act requests to obtain Pregel's personnel file and documents from the internal affairs investigation.

Arrest warrants state Hudgens was charged with resisting arrest. The warrant states deputies were stopping Hudgens for an equipment violation when Hudgens resisted arrest by "turning and blading his body in a fighting stance."

The warrant further states that Hudgens was attempting to leave the scene after he noticed a deputy yelling at him telling him to stop, the warrant states.

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Video captured via a surveillance camera from Simuns Tire and Brake on Woodside Avenue shows Hudgens backing up with his hands raised as a deputy confronts him. The video shows the deputy taking Hudgens to the ground and four more officers approaching before several deputies strike Hudgens' body while another deputy holds his head to the ground.

Community activist Traci Fant met with Hudgens after he was hospitalized from the arrest and sought justice on his behalf. She met with the Sheriff's Office last week to object to how he was handled and the Sheriff's Office assured her that an internal affairs investigation would be thorough, she said.

"We wanted to respect the process and said let's let them do their job and pray that they're transparent," Fant said. "And we've seen accountability in this and appreciate their transparency and and level of accountability."

Hudgens' resisting arrest charge is still pending.

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Erwin said Hudgens was caught off guard by the deputies and did not know who was coming after him at the time of his arrest.

"His perspective is he was minding his own business and someone came up behind him and pretty much slammed him down in the parking lot," Erwin said. "This is one of the most egregious cases I’ve seen. He wasn’t doing anything wrong."

Fant said she was thankful that those at Simuns Tire and Brake who kept and shared their surveillance video, though it was painful to watch, she said.

"I have so many emotions. We see it so often – I literally was hurting for him," Fant said. "When I saw it, they didn’t give him the opportunity to respond or even to know who they were or what was going on."

Erwin plans to collect additional evidence from the case and seek to get the charge dismissed, he said. He is also considering a civil lawsuit against the Sheriff's Office on behalf of Hudgens to recoup costs associated with his medical treatment.

"I don’t see how they (law enforcement) can go forward on this," Erwin said of Hudgens' criminal case.

Daniel J. Gross is an investigative watchdog reporter focusing on public safety and law enforcement for The Greenville News. Reach him at dgross@greenvillenews.com or on Twitter @danieljgross.

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