The small town of McColl, South Carolina, has seen its share of shocking events over the past couple of weeks. In November, as Liberty Nation News reported, the entire police department, including the chief, resigned. Then, just a few days later, the mayor died after a head-on collision with an 18-wheeler while being “pursued” by deputies. Details are still a bit sketchy, but here’s what we know.
Mayor Under Police Protection?
On November 26, around 2:40 p.m., Mayor George Garner II was driving a 2007 Chevrolet Tahoe when he veered into the eastbound lane and collided with a semi-truck. “When the incident occurred Mr. Garner was being pursued by a Marlboro County deputy,” Darlington County Coroner Todd Hardee told News13. “The pursuit was not related to any laws being broken. The pursuit was taking place in an effort to protect the well being of Mr. Garner.”
The reason for the protection was not explained; however, South Carolina Law Enforcement Division (SLED) spokeswoman Renee Wunderlich said Garner was connected to an “active and ongoing” investigation by the SLED. Darlington County Sheriff James Hudson Jr. said the state’s Highway Patrol’s multi-disciplinary accident team (MAIT) is investigating.
Five days before Garner’s death, on November 21, the police chief and all the officers resigned, citing a “hostile work environment” and budget cuts. In a public Facebook post, the former Chief of Police, Bob Hale, wrote: “My personal decision to step away from the McColl Police Department can be attributed to repeated acts of harassment, personal attacks on my character, and the overall creation of a hostile work environment perpetuated by a specific Councilman.” Hale did not name the councilman in question, but former McColl Investigator Courtney Bulusan, who quit around the same time, identified him as Harry Benjamin.
More Questions Than Answers So Far
However, there are more mysteries to unravel. In June 2023, then-Police Chief Xzavier Williams resigned, claiming a hostile work environment because of Mayor Garner. He told News13 that, for a while, he was the only certified officer in the department because the mayor kept running off the other employees. Williams said he hired a certified officer in February 2023 who resigned with “hostile work environment by the mayor” listed under the form’s section “other separation reasons.” Another officer quit in May that year due to “an issue arising with the mayor,” according to documents from the Academy, News13 elaborated.
In a statement to the outlet, Williams said: “The problem lies when you have certain officials who either try to take over the department and run it without proper knowledge about the law and not trusting the very person they hired to operate the department as the department head to lead the department better [than] where it was before.”
Williams also claimed he was trying to fight drug problems in the community and wanted to send an officer to K9 school because he’d had some success with the dogs, but the mayor ended that plan.
News13 reached out to Garner for comment, and when the mayor finally answered, he reportedly told them: “I ain’t got no time, brother,” and disconnected the call.
“I am/was working to hire more certified officers but the mayor has taken over the police department in search of his own officers to hire,” Williams told the outlet in June. He also claimed that Garner “was looking for a new chief who would bring in his/her own officers.”
And that’s exactly what happened with the newest former Chief of Police, Bob Hale. When he was hired, he brought with him four officers. Then, when he resigned on November 21, those officers resigned with him. For the second time in little over a year, the small town of McColl was without adequate law enforcement.
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