Fatal vehicle crash at County Courthouse
Vehicle crashed into the Darlington County Courthouse early on Monday morning, April 18, 2016
Photo taken by Jana E. Pye
By Jana E. Pye, Editor, editor@newsandpress.net
A pick up truck hit the Darlington County Courthouse at the Public Square in Darlington early this morning, killing the driver. The City of Darlington police department was the first on the scene before 4:00 a.m., finding the vehicle in flames.
UPDATE: On Tuesday, April 19, 2016 at noon, Darlington County Coroner Todd Hardee has identified the man killed in the automobile collision at the Darlington County Courthouse as Richard Ryan Cowick, 42, of Darlington.
On the scene at 5:45 a.m., the scene was grim.
Pat Cavanaugh, City of Darlington Fire Chief:
“The call came out about 3:45 a.m. Our crews got here and they found the vehicle up under the building fully engulfed in flames. We went to put it out and the city police noticed there was a body inside. At that point the coroner was called (J. Todd Hardee, County Coroner) and they called the county admins since it was county property to take over. We had smoke inside the second and third stories of the courthouse, so we had to ventilate everything inside and it got up in the ceiling tiles. At this point, everything is under control and we are waiting on SLED who has control of the scene now.”
By the end of the day on Monday, Coroner Hardee said that the confirmed name would not be released until an autopsy was performed.
“After we did the fire, we turned everything over to the Sheriff’s Department and they called SLED and the coroner,” continued Cavanaugh. “The courthouse will be closed today. They will make sure the structure is okay. It took a hard lick.”
It looked like the vehicle was coming from Pearl Street when it made impact on the corner of the courthouse facing Carolina Drug Store.
Cavanaugh confirmed that there was a “good bit” of flames as the vehicle was burning.
Wayne Byrd, Darlington County Sheriff:
“The city got the call around 4:00 a.m. about the crash, and the fire. They called the fire department to come put the fire out. We are waiting now …it looks now like a vehicle accident, but with the courthouse being involved and general sessions starting this morning, we were making sure that nothing else was going on…some kind of deliberate act.”
The driver was still in the vehicle when the first photographs were taken; a tarp was placed over the charred vehicle.
“We are waiting on the MAIT team and the SLED arson team to get here and look it over. We will probably have to have someone examine the courthouse because there could be some structural damage between the crash and the heat of the fire. They will make sure the building is structurally alright.”
Byrd thought the vehicle looked like a Chevy S10.
By daybreak, Samantha Lyles of the News and Press arrived and took more photographs.
A press release was sent to media at 3:34 p.m. stating that Darlington County government operations will resume normal business operations at the courthouse on Tuesday, April 19, 2016 at 8:30 am. The structure has been inspected and deemed safe to return to normal business. The South Carolina Law Enforcement Division (SLED) and the Darlington County Coroner’s Office are the lead agencies investigating this incident and will be responsible for releasing any follow up information.
The News and Press will update this story further as more details are made available. Mobile users please click link to view more photos: Vehicle crash at Darlington County Courthouse
