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CHARLESTON COUNTY, S.C. (WCSC) - Troopers with the South Carolina Highway Patrol say a Charleston County Sheriff’s Office deputy will be charged with three counts of reckless homicide.
According to a newly released report, troopers say Emily Pelletier was going 73 miles per hour when she went past a stop sign, and smashed into another car, killing a mother and her two daughters inside.
Warrants for deputy Pelletier’s arrest, comes after a news conference Tuesday afternoon where Sheriff Kristin Graziano announced the findings of an internal investigation into the crash.
The sheriff says Pelletier ignored the stop sign at Savannah Highway and New Road when she hit the car with 53- year- old Stephanie Dantzler and her daughters, 28-year-old Shanice Dantzler-Williams and 22-year-old Miranda Dantzler-Williams inside.
According to the sheriff’s office, Pelletier was heading to a scene to help a driver with car problems on Savannah Highway at the time.
Graziano says Pelletier’s lights and sirens were not activated at the time of the crash.
Highway Patrol report on crash
The Highway Patrol report states that the incident happened on May 8 at 10:55 p.m. on U.S. Highway 17 and New Road in Charleston County.
According to the report, a Toyota sedan was traveling south on the highway while the Charleston County Sheriff’s Office vehicle was traveling west on New Road.
Troopers say that the sheriff’s office vehicle was traveling 73 miles per hour, disregarded a stop sign and traveled onto the highway striking the sedan killing the occupants.
Sheriff: Deputy ran stop sign in deadly crash that killed mother, daughters
Graziano said there was “no doubt” that Pelletier contributed to the crash.
“There’s no doubt about the facts, I think we all agree on the facts,” Graziano said during a press conference. “She ran a stop sign and collided with, hit the vehicle that was driven by Shanice. She struck the vehicle, there’s no doubt about that.”
Graziano held the news conference Tuesday afternoon outside the family’s Green Pond home in Colleton County. She said she expected charges to be filed against Pelletier, whom she said was driving without blue lights or her siren on at the time of the crash.
Graziano said she learned the South Carolina Highway Patrol recently completed its investigation into the crash and is compiling its final reports. But she said it troubled her when she saw the accident report which did not implicitly state that the Dantzler family was not to blame for the crash.
“We knew that hours after the accident, and it bothered me and it troubled me a little bit that that information was not relayed on the piece of paper,” she said.
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