Kershaw County Sheriff’s Office (KCSO) deputies arrested Zachary John Keegan, 29, of Paskel Road, Elgin around 6:30 p.m. April 6 following a call of shots fired and Keegan allegedly fleeing from a subsequent traffic stop. According to a KCSO report, a deputy responded to a shots fired call in the area of Tower Road and Crab Apple Lane in the Lugoff-Elgin area. As he approached Crab Apple Lane, the deputy could hear the shots coming from that direction and -- deciding it would not be safe to enter on foot -- walked back to his patrol car. As he did so, he could see a traveling down a dirt trail toward Crab Apple Lane at high speed.
Back inside his patrol car, the deputy flagged down the dark-colored GMC pick-up truck and asked if they had been shooting. The driver -- later identified as Keegan -- claimed they had come from Percival Road in Richland County. Knowing this not to be true, the deputy backed up, turned on his blue lights and exited his patrol car. As he approached the truck, Keegan reportedly leaned down as if to hide something and then placed the truck in reverse. The deputy got back into his patrol car and turned on his siren as he followed the truck down Crab Apple Lane.
Keegan reportedly backed onto the trail he and his passenger had just come off of and came to a full stop. Having heard the shots earlier, the deputy drew his side arm and pointed it toward Keegan. As he brought his patrol car to a stop, Keegan reportedly floored the truck and turn down Crab Apple Lane, barely striking the patrol car’s front bumper. Holstering his weapon, the deputy gave chase into Richland County at a high rate of speed, at one time reaching 70 mph on Rush Road. The chase continued on Highway Church and Screaming Eagle roads, with speeds reaching around 90 to 100 mph.
Keegan eventually led the deputy back toward Tower Road and Crab Apple Lane where the chase had begun. Advising other units to keep back due to the road conditions, the deputy attempted to follow Keegan, but got stuck. By this time, Kershaw and Richland deputies had blocked off the area, and Keegan stopped and fled on foot up a fence line toward Rush Road. His 31-year-old passenger from Sumter, who was later charged with open container and marijuana possession, gave up after exiting the truck.
K9 Daisy tracked Keegan, allowing deputies to arrest him. Following the arrest, deputies found him possession of more than 2.5 grams of crack cocaine. Deputies also found an AR rifle and a 9mm pistol with a laser sight attached to it. After being read his Miranda rights, Keegan reportedly admitted to being high on crack during the chase and being a convicted felon in possession of the firearms.
According to the KCSO, Keegan has several convictions for assault and battery of a high and aggravated nature and failing to stop for blue lights.
Keegan is currently free on a total bond of $21,000 pending trial.
The KCSO also reported the following recent incidents:
Deputies are hoping to catch up with a man wanted on several forgery charges who fled from a traffic stop during the early morning hours of April 10. According to a KCSO report, deputies are seeking Samuel Terry Dukes Jr., 52, of Truesdell Avenue, Lugoff. A deputy transporting someone else to jail noticed someone driving a vehicle he suspected to be Dukes. A check of the car the man was driving matched one known to be used by Dukes. Another deputy made a traffic stop on Dukes at U.S. 1 South and River Ramp Road near the Wateree River bridge. Upon being stopped, Dukes claimed to have taken care of the previous forgery warrants. At first, although he challenged the deputies’ suspicions, he cooperated until, claiming he was only going to get a cigarette from his car, he sped off in his car while struggling with deputies who were trying to get him back out. The chase headed into Camden and onto Springdale Drive at speeds of between 65 and 90 mph and then onto John G. Richards Road (S.C. 97) all the way to Lancaster County. At times, deputies reported Dukes was driving at a high rate of speed, swerving into the opposite lane and/or straddling the centerline in an effort to keep deputies from getting around him. At one point, he reportedly tried to brake hard enough in an attempt to have a deputy crash into him. The pursuit continued into Chester County on S.C. 200 and on to I-77. Neither Lancaster nor Chester county deputies assisted, and Kershaw County deputies ended the pursuit at a rest area near I-77 Exit 66 and returned to Kershaw County.
A man reported that his daughter, who is a college student in Columbia, has been harassed by an unknown male suspect demanding money for “a package.” When the young woman responded that she would contact law enforcement, the man began leaving her audio messages, including one that said, “Now you have something to tell the cops.” A deputy contacted the woman and told her to contact her university’s police department. A few minutes later, the young woman called the deputy back and said the suspect was now threatening to kill her and burn down her house. She also said he had located her on social media and was sending her pictures. The deputy then called the number from which the threats were coming. Someone picked up the phone, but did not speak. A few moments later, the suspect began sending messages to the deputy also threatening to kill the victim if she did not give him the money. The deputy then contacted the university’s police department to confer on the case. The young woman’s father went to Columbia and brought her back to their residence in Kershaw County.
As of April 9, deputies were searching for a 38-year-old Kershaw man who allegedly assaulted his live-in girlfriend and tried to keep her from calling for help on April 8. Responding deputies found the woman with dried blood on her face, a bruised eye and knots on the back of her head. She said her boyfriend had assaulted her during an argument on April 6, but then things were fine until the morning of April 6 when he tried to assault her again. He left, but then returned and began assaulting her again, during which he allegedly put his hand over her mouth and nose, saying he would kill her if she didn’t stop screaming for help. She also said he choked her and hit her in the head. She said he then went to get something and she tried to leave, but then he ran outside, grabbed her by the hair and dragged her back inside. She said he wouldn’t give her phone to her, and that he would kill her if she called law enforcement. He then allegedly used a pool stick to break many items in the residence. Deputies listed first-degree domestic violence and kidnapping as possible charges the man could face.
A 35-year-old Kershaw man is out on $5,000 bond after being arrested April 13 and charged with a crime not often heard of anymore: bigamy. Furthermore, the man is accused of being married to not just two women, but three. In addition to being married to a woman in northern Kershaw County, he is also allegedly married to a woman in Dillon County and another in Florence County. The Kershaw County woman said she found out about the multiple marriages when the wife in Dillon County contacted her via Facebook stating she was still married to the man. The Kershaw woman said she then obtained her husband and the Dillon County woman’s marriage license as proof. She then learned her husband was still married to his first wife from Florence County and planned to obtain that marriage license as well.
A Camden woman reported on April 12 that someone purporting to be Sheriff Lee Boan and possible “spoofing” the KCSO’s main phone number called her claiming there was a warrant for her arrest. They even provided a “case number” to sound believable. The person told her she needed to go to the Best Buy on Two Notch Road in Columbia and spend $400 on a Google Play card to clear the charges. At one point, the suspect even made it a three-way call with a second suspect claiming to be from Social Security and that they had charges on the woman, too.
Deputies arrested a 54-year-old east Camden man on second-degree domestic violence charges after he allegedly stabbed his wife in the arm. The woman said she was cooking in the kitchen and her husband just walked in and started stabbing her and pushing her around. Deputies reported she suffered lacerations on her arm that were still bleeding when they arrived. They located the man at another residence and found him intoxicated with his shirt and hands covered in blood. He claimed his wife had fallen earlier and cut herself on some broken glass.
Deputies arrested a 25-year-old east Camden man for breach of peace after someone reported shots being fired in the area of Hilton Street around 3:45 a.m. April 10. Dispatchers informed responding deputies that the man was walking toward McCrae Road and located him at a Brown Road residence. The owner of that home said the man had just run into the house with a gun and that it was in a back bedroom. A search of the room turned up a .38 caliber under a bed mattress. Deputies arrested the man who appeared to be grossly intoxicated.
Around 10:15 p.m. April 10, Kershaw County deputies attempted to assist a S.C. Highway Patrol involved in a vehicle chase on Wildwood Lane in the Lugoff-Elgin area. As deputies reached the area, they learned that the suspect had turned onto Watts Hill Road and then into a cemetery. The driver apparently jumped from the vehicle and ran toward Eskie Dixon Road. The KCSO tracking team responded, but the incident report did not include whether or not they were successful in capturing the suspect.
A U.S. Postal Service employee whose route takes her on the 900 block of Leslie Branham Road in Lugoff reported that on several occasions since March 31, she has noticed a 61-year-old man standing naked in his doorway with an erection. As the incidents have continued, she said, the man has come further and further out into his yard. She reported the incidents on April 12. No arrests have been made in the case.
Deputies arrested a 25-year-old east Camden man on third-degree domestic violence charges during the early morning hours of April 12 after he allegedly assaulted the mother of his child. Responding deputies located the woman in the middle of the road near the incident location, holding her side as if in pain. She said the man hit her during an argument and then struck her in the face and kicked her in the ribs.
Someone stole a 14-foot by 7-foot enclosed double-axle trailer with an insulation machine and hose valued at $7,500 from a lot behind an office on Sumter Highway near I-20 Exit 98 sometime before 4:40 p.m. April 7. The following day, the victim contacted deputies again, saying he had found an image of the trailer on Facebook Market that had been posted several hours after the trailer went missing.
On April 10, Deputies located a 30-year-old Sumter man who skipped bond on 2018 fraudulent check charges out of Kershaw County on. Deputies located the man working at a Spindle Lane, Lugoff home, and found him in possession of a 2019 Toyota Corolla reported stolen out of Hartsville. He will now face additional charges of being in possession of a stolen vehicle valued at $10,000 or more.
Sometime between late on March 30 and around 5 p.m. April 1, someone broke into a home being worked on and stole several cabinets that had been installed. When a contractor returned to the home, they found that the cabinets had been pulled off the wall and that an island cabinet had been taken as well, all totaling around $750. The residence had not been locked.
Two people living in neighboring homes on Ivo Circle near Elgin reported a possible drive-by shooting on the morning of April 11. They said the suspect was driving a small silver car. No one was injured, but one of the complainants said the single round that was fired came close to hitting him, and suspected the shooter might be the boyfriend of a woman he knows.
County deputies also dealt with recent cases involving breach of peace, breach of trust, burglary, crack cocaine possession, DUI, driving under suspension, emergency protective custody of an adult, financial ID fraud, invalid tags, larceny, malicious injury to property, marijuana possession, methamphetamine possession, motor vehicle theft, open container, possession of drug paraphernalia, possession of Schedule I-V narcotics, public disorderly conduct, runaway, second-degree domestic violence, theft from a car, trespassing, underage drinking, unlawful use of 911, vandalism, and driving on the wrong side of the road.
(KCSO reports are provided under the S.C. Freedom of Information Act. Subjects are considered innocent until proven guilty.)
