‘He’s upside down over here’: Dashcam footage tells story of deadly Horry police chase
Two Horry County officers parked next to each other under fluorescent gas station lights on Highway 9. The sun would be up in about two hours, but until then, the rural roads remained dark.
Cutting through that 4 a.m. darkness came a four-door Honda, the driver pushing the accelerator just past 100 mph, despite the speed limit being 45 mph.
The officers peeled out of the gas station and glided through the few cars on the road. It took them more than two minutes to catch the speeder, Jermaine Jackson, who was on his way home from visiting his girlfriend and children. The officers then turned on their lights, blue and white flashes lighting up the otherwise dark road. It is unclear why they waited to turn their lights on.
The Sun News obtained dashcam footage from the June police chase — which shows the incident in its entirety — through a Freedom of Information Act request. The county had previously denied interview requests from Sun News reporters about the chase, which resulted in Jackson’s death. The county also sent The Sun News redacted police pursuit policies, leaving most of the details of the chase unknown until Thursday.
“The officer followed the proper policy and protocols. Otherwise, we decline to provide any further commentary on the matter,” Horry County police said in an emailed statement Thursday afternoon. “HCPD expresses our sympathy to the family for their loss.”
High-speed chase
Jackson hit the brakes as one of the police SUVs neared. The officer begins to read the license plate number to 911 dispatch, part of Horry County police chase policy. At this point the dashcam footage is muted, done to protect personal information, according to Aaron Spelbring, an Horry County FOIA manager.
As police close in, it seems like Jackson is going to pull over, as he presses his brakes, signals left and turns off the four-lane highway into a gas station parking lot. As he pulls into the lot, his brake lights turn off and the car jerks right, behind a Bojangles connected to the gas station.
“He took off,” the officer can be heard saying above the acceleration of Jackson’s car. Dashcam footage from the second police vehicle shows the second officer cut in front and around the building as Jackson speeds off in front of him, followed by the lead officer.
The three turn left on Highway 57. First Jackson, then the two officers. The second officer calls in the location and speed of the chase, again following police policy.
“We’re on [Highway] 57 North, speed is 90 [mph], traffic is clear,” the second officer can be heard saying.
Horry County police pursuit policy requires officers to update dispatch on vehicle description, location and speed, among other things. The policy also requires officers to consider things like time of day, traffic conditions and lighting conditions during a chase.
The two-lane highway is dark, and the lead officer uses his spotlight almost immediately after turning and starts scanning the right side of the road and sees only empty ditches. Jackson’s taillights have disappeared into the darkness, dashcam footage shows. The lead officer passes an oncoming car and drives for another 15 seconds and passes another. Still no sign of Jackson.
Another 15 seconds pass and in the distance the headlights of an 18-wheeler are the only thing visible until a series of lightning colored flashes illuminates the road.
“Yea, he flipped it,” the lead officer is heard saying.
A power pole on the left side of the street lights up like cheap fireworks as an oncoming truck hauling lumber passes the lead officer, who had slowed down.
Now at a rolling stop, the lead officer uses his spotlight on two houses on the left side of the road, then to the right, looking for any signs of Jackson’s car.
“I don’t know where he went to,” he told dispatch. The spotlight searches as the patrol car rolls slowly down the road. The spotlight lands on the underbelly of a sedan on the right side of the road. “He’s upside down over here.”
The 6.7-mile pursuit lasted just over five minutes. Driving the speed limit, the trip should have taken 15.
Ambulance arrives
A crash report from the South Carolina Highway Patrol illustrates what might have happened as Jackson turned off Highway 9 and onto Highway 57. The crash report is a reflection of what the officer thinks happened to the best of their knowledge, but is not always factually accurate, the report states
Jacksons’ car drifted off the right side of the road, striking a culvert, a utility pole. Jackson then hit a ditch, a tree and finally flipped over and was ejected from the car, according to the report.
On dashcam footage, the second officer calls for an ambulance and fire rescue as the lead officer walks towards the crash with a flashlight in hand. Both officers maneuver around a ditch as they look for Jackson until the second officer points him out. Crash reports say he was ejected from the vehicle, one of the officers is heard saying he has a pulse. The report also says a child’s car seat was found ejected, prompting a search for any children who may have been in the car.
A few drivers slow down as they pass by to watch officers navigate the high grass with their flashlights. Dashcam footage from the second officer’s car shows fire and rescue personnel arrive about nine minutes after the crash. Five minutes later Jackson is placed onto a stretcher and into an ambulance.
Jackson arrived at the emergency room at Grand Strand Medical Center at 5:25 a.m. and was in “active cardiac arrest,” the hospital told his mother. He died at 5:45 a.m. His cause of death is not clear.
A mother’s loss
Selena Jackson, Jermaine’s mother, still has questions about her son’s death.
Even after being offered to see dashcam footage she questioned why it took so long for police to tell her anything about the crash. She declined the offer, and told The Sun News watching the footage would be too painful for her.
She doesn’t deny that her son did something wrong and that police were after him for breaking the law, she said, she just wishes it would have ended differently.
“I just wished that if they couldn’t catch him they would’ve just backed off, maybe he would’ve been living today,” she said, adding that the police could have arrested her son the next day and she would have been OK with it. “In another sense, I just wish he would’ve stopped also.”
Selena is still missing information and paperwork related to her son’s death including his death certificate. She blames the delay, in part, on the coroner’s office.
“It’s like my son is still alive,” Selena said, “and they aren’t giving me any closure or any answers.”
The family has also asked the coroner’s office for a toxicology report done on Jermaine and was told it would take months before the report comes back.
The Horry County Coroner’s office routinely sends out news releases when it has identified victims of fatal car crashes. In this case the coroner’s office never publicly announced Jermaine’s name. The Sun News asked Robert Edge, the Horry County coroner, to identify the victim of the crash, which he did on Aug. 26, more than two months after Jermaine’s death.
When asked by reporters why the coroner’s office hadn’t sent out a press release with the victim’s name, Edge responded “some people get them, some people don’t. It’s just a problem we have and I don’t know what the answer is.”
Jermaine was a father of seven and his mother’s youngest child who “would help you if he could help you,” his mother said.
Jermaine had been arrested in 2014 when he pleaded guilty to minor drug possession. He was required to pay a fine and court fees.
Selena’s social media pages are full of tributes to her son. In August, for Jermaine’s birthday, she hosted a celebration of life for family and friends still mourning his loss.
This story was originally published September 10, 2021 at 10:34 AM.
