A couple is suing Horry County Police Department for ‘negligence’ after high-speed chase

An Horry County couple says in a lawsuit that the Horry County Police Department was negligent in a 2021 car chase that led to a suspect crashing into the wife’s vehicle.

A police pursuit that happened about June 16 and included three officers led to Janice Smith suffering injuries to her entire body, according to the suit.

She had been driving a Ford Mustang Convertible on the intersection of Waccamaw Pine and Highway 501 when a suspect driving a Toyota Corolla “at an extremely high rate of speed, violently collided into the driver’s side” of the car.

A message to the department spokeswoman was not immediately returned Thursday.

The name of the suspect was not included in the lawsuit.

An officer had pursued the suspect after the driver sped off when asked about identifying information during a traffic stop, the lawsuit states. At some point, two more officers joined the chase.

All the vehicles were going over 100 mph, which caused dangerous conditions on congested roads in Horry County, the suit said.

“Based on national, state and local policies, procedures and protocols, other actions should have been undertaken which would not have put the drivers and vehicles on the roadway in danger,” the suit states.

Janice Smith and Daniel Smith, who are married, filed the lawsuit Feb. 6.

This story was originally published February 16, 2023 at 2:43 PM.