Officer charged in Georgetown killing previously fired by SCDPS after shooting at dogs
A police officer recently arrested in the fatal shooting of an unarmed Black man had been fired from a previous law enforcement job after shooting at a pair of dogs while off duty.
Sgt. Cassandra Ann Dollard, of the Hemingway Police Department, was booked Wednesday in Georgetown County on voluntary manslaughter charges after shooting and killing Robert Langley.
Dollard, 52, was terminated Sept. 11, 2014 from her job with the South Carolina Department of Public Safety as a corporal for the State Transport Police, according to documents filed in a federal lawsuit.
Dollard, who is also Black, filed the lawsuit in 2017 against the department alleging gender and racial discrimination in relation to her dismissal.
The department ended up settling with Dollard, but her attorney on the case, Ryan Kyle Hicks, could not recall details of that settlement when reached by The Sun News Wednesday.
Her termination followed an incident in Berkeley County, where Dollard fired her gun at two dogs she felt were threatening her while she was on a morning jog, according to an incident report included in case filings.
She believed she may have hit one of the dogs in the leg, but was unsure, and law enforcement wasn’t able to locate the dogs she described, the report states.
Dollard waited nearly six hours before reporting the shooting to her supervisor, in violation of department policy, and she was immediately suspended and ultimately fired, according to her termination letter, which was also attached to the case.
The letter also laid out several other alleged violations including failure to wear proper uniform, rude and unprofessional behavior during traffic stops, and missing scheduled court appearances.
Dollard alleged in her lawsuit that her termination was in retaliation for complaining about being harassed by a fellow corporal, and that the department failed to similarly discipline white, male employees for their violations.
After her termination, Dollard worked for the St. Stephen Police Department before starting with Hemingway Police Department in September 2021, according to records from the S.C. Criminal Justice Academy. The Hemingway department was just established in July 2021, according to its Facebook page.
Hemingway Police did not immediately respond to a request for information regarding Dollard’s employment status.
Fatal shooting
SLED agents arrested Dollard Wednesday in Berkeley County, according to a press release from SLED spokesperson Ryan Alphin.
She had attempted to pull Langley over early Sunday after the 46-year-old ran a stop sign, according to her arrest warrant. He did not stop, and a police chase ensued with Langley reaching speeds of more than 100 mph.
The pursuit, which began in Williamsburg County, continued until Langley drove his car into a ditch in Georgetown County, outside of Dollard’s jurisdiction, according to the warrant.
Langley, who was unarmed, attempted to exit the car through the passenger door.
Dollard, claiming she was “in fear for her safety,” fired a single shot, hitting Langley in the chest.
Langley’s family held a press conference Wednesday morning in Georgetown County calling for justice in his killing.
“We do know Robert Langley should be alive today,” said Bakari Sellers, a civil rights attorney representing the family. “We do know he was taken from us in a cruel fashion — in an unjust fashion.”
This story was originally published February 10, 2022 at 5:00 AM.
