Towing company assault ended in gunfire between neighbor, Greenville deputy that left 1 dead
By: An alleged assault between a towing company operator and another man ended with a shootout between sheriff's deputies and the neighbor next door, according to a video released by the Greenville County Sheriff's Office.
The body camera clip and portions of two 911 calls were made public March 12 on YouTube as part of the sheriff office’s community briefing policy, which publishes curated accounts of major deputy-involved incidents 45 days after they occur.
Deputies were called to Simmons Towing off Piedmont Highway, midway between Piedmont and Pelzer, before 11 p.m. on Jan. 26 after a person called 911 to allege the towing operator hit a man in the mouth with a big stick.
The caller, unidentified in the video, said the operator, later identified as 38-year-old Larry Doyle Simmons, took off down the road. When deputies arrived shortly after 11 p.m., they began searching for Simmons around the area, Lt. Ryan Flood said in the video.
Deputies found a man they thought was Simmons hiding behind a pickup truck next door to the towing company, but he was later identified as 51-year-old Robert Lee Campbell.
The deputy whose body camera was shown in the video rounds the fence of the tow yard and flashes a light down toward Campbell, noticing that he might have a gun. He deploys his pistol and begins calling out "sheriff's office" before rushing back with other deputies to grab their rifles.
A woman at the scene, related to the original 911 calls, began screaming out "Larry!" as they pulled her away from the scene.
Over the next three minutes, deputies made repeated calls out to Campbell, thinking he was Simmons, asking him to put the gun down.
"Larry! Come talk to us, come on. It doesn't have to be like this," one deputy calls out in the video.
"We can figure all this out man, we just want you to come talk to us, OK?" the deputy yells out moments before deputies say Campbell fired.
Deputies give Campbell another chance, yelling out four times, "Drop it, Larry!" before one deputy fires two brief shots at Campbell.
"Deputies maintained cover until a canine arrived on scene to safely separate the subject from the firearm that he was possessing," Flood said.
"After deeming the scene safe, sheriff's office medics moved in to attempt first aid," Flood said, adding that medics discovered Campbell was already dead.
Deputies found a loaded 12-gauge shotgun next to Campbell that he had used to fire at them, Flood said in the video.
Simmons was found shortly thereafter on the other side of the fence in the tow yard, according to the sheriff's office. He was charged with one count of third-degree assault and battery for striking a man with a wooden board, according to an arrest warrant.
It is unclear what the relation was between Simmons and the man he allegedly struck with the board.
Sheriff Hobart Lewis said in the briefing video that while an independent investigation by the State Law Enforcement Division is ongoing, the sheriff’s office internal affairs office found that the deputy was justified in using deadly force.
Flood said in the video they have not determined why Campbell fired at deputies.