Lawsuit claims Horry County police officer caused crash while on duty
A recently filed lawsuit alleges that an Horry County Police officer caused a crash with reckless driving.
On the evening of April 23, 2024, Amaury L. Dixon of Loris was driving on Highway 554 in Loris, when he claims officer Brian Leonhardt “crossed the centerline” and collided with his vehicle “head on.”
The suit states that Leonhardt was “negligent, reckless, willful and wanton,” and drove at an excessive speed while failing to maintain a proper lookout. However, the collision report claims that Leonhardt’s emergency lights and sirens were activated, and Dixon failed to yield to the emergency vehicle.
In response to requests for comment, county spokesperson Mikayla Moskov said in a message that the county “does not provide commentary on substantive matters related to pending litigation.”
The suit claims that Leonhardt failed to utilize proper signals or his horn to alert traffic to where he was driving, and that he did not maintain control of his vehicle. It also states that Leonhardt drove “left of center at a rate of high speed,” and did not take evasive action or observe traffic conditions to avoid hitting Dixon.
Gene Connell, Dixon’s attorney in the case, asserted that Dixon had pulled off to the side of the road when Leonhardt turned his lights on, which can be seen in a diagram included in the collision report. Leonhardt had then turned “all the way across two lanes of traffic” and hit Dixon, Connell said.
The collision report claims that Dixon was traveling east while Leonhardt was attempting to turn left onto Evert Road South with lights and sirens on. The report goes on to allege that Dixon failed to yield to the emergency vehicle and was thus struck by it.
However, Connell contends that Dixon was unable to yield further than pulling off to the side of the road, as he didn’t know where Leonhardt was going.
The collision report estimates that Dixon suffered $2,000 in property damage while Leonhardt suffered $3,000 in property damage.
The suit claims that the damages to Dixon’s vehicle cost “large sums to repair” while also causing the vehicle’s value to depreciate and leaving Dixon without his vehicle for a “great period of time.”
Additionally, it claims that Dixon was “thrown about the interior of the vehicle and suffered great bodily injury” as a result of the crash, causing him to incur medical expenses and lose wages from time off of work.
Connell was unable to share the nature of Dixon’s injuries or medical expenses on Monday morning, as he did not have prior permission from Dixon.
