Video of traffic stop shows police breaking window at Clarendon line

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A traffic stop on the edge of the Clarendon-Orangeburg county line in which a Santee officer broke the window out of a vehicle has gotten more than 170,000 views on social media since its posting last week. "Talk about how it continues. This police man just broke my d--- car window for no d--- reason," said the Florida man, who was stopped at the 101 mile-marker on Interstate 95 on March 10 after allegedly speeding 88 mph in a 70 mph zone. "Good thing I got (it) on camera. The struggle continues! We won't let them, no one, stop us from success we have waiting for us!" The man posted the video April 12 to his Instagram page, more than a month after the incident. A video from a dashcam in Santee Police Officer Logan Riley Null's vehicle shows the entire incident, which began allegedly after a concerned citizen alerted law enforcement to a white Audi driving erratically on the interstate. Null was parked at 8:45 a.m. March 10 on I-95 when he saw a car matching the description of the one reported. “I observed the vehicle to drive out of its lane numerous times. I initiated a traffic stop on the vehicle,” Null wrote in his incident report, claiming the vehicle was going 88 mph in a 70 mph zone. Dashcam video shows the Audi pulling into the emergency lane after the initiated traffic stop on the edge of Clarendon County at the 101 mile-marker. Asked to show his identification several times, the driver refused. Null then radioed for backup, and Santee Police Chief Bing JOnes came on the scene with a Clarendon County Sheriff's Office deputy. "We're going to have to bust out his window and take him into custody if he doesn't provide his license," said Null. In the video, Null again approaches the vehicle's driver's side window. “If you fail to provide your driver’s license, you’re going to be taken into custody," he said. "You’ll be forcibly removed from the vehicle and taken into custody. Your vehicle is going to be towed and your passenger is going to be forced to walk. If you’ll give me your driver’s license, I’m going to write you a speeding ticket and let you go.” Null asked again if the driver was going to provide his driver's license, then told him to step out of the vehicle and told him he was under arrest. Videos show that Null attempted to open the driver's side window, which was down about three inches, shattering it with his hands. Both Null and the Clarendon deputy removed the man, who claimed it was a violation of his rights on the dashcam video. A search produced the man's Florida ID and an open bottle of Ciroc liquor in the passenger compartment. The suspect was transported to the Orangeburg County Detention Center for booking, and Null's dashcam captured a conversation between the pair. The suspect asks Null what made the officer pull him over. “Eighty-eight in a 70 and somebody called Highway Patrol on you," Null answered. "Somebody called 911 because you were driving erratically.” Null told the suspect that "if you'd gotten out of the car, I wouldn't have done that." “You could’ve blinded me,” the suspect said. “You know what, I’m not a hater, man. I just want to do what I want to do, provide for my family and my people and try to help them as best that I can.” Null asked the man if he knew anyone hurt in a vehicle wreck. “I had an uncle who died in a wreck,” the man answered. “Do you not think it should be my job to pull over people who are driving erratically so they don’t kill somebody?” the officer asked. The Santee Police Department charged the suspect with speeding, violating liquor laws, resisting arrest and driving without a valid license, which are all misdemeanors. He refused medical assistance after arriving at the OCDC. The Clarendon County Sheriff's Office allowed the suspect's passenger to retrieve personal items from the vehicle and then transported him to a gas station at the next exit on the interstate. "We acted appropriately. We had to get him to come out of the car and not drive off,” Jones told the Times and Democrat of Orangeburg.