Child thrown from back of four-wheeler in woods. Why a SC man was arrested in the crash
A Conway man has been arrested after crashing a four-wheeler that caused a child to be thrown from the back and then leaving the juvenile behind.
Daniel Neal Schnetzler, 33, was charged by Horry County Police with unlawfully placing a child at risk or abandoning on Oct. 3, 2024.
The incident happened about 1:30 p.m. on Sept. 13 in which an officer was responding to a noise complaint on Upper Saddle Circle near Conway, according to a police report. Once on the scene, the officer could hear a loud, revving engine noise coming from behind a home.
The officer discovered that the noise was coming from the woods on another road. The officer drove down Highway 544 with the windows down trying to follow the noise when the officer saw a four-wheeler traveling down Compton Lane, the report said.
The officer conducted a U-turn and was heading back toward Compton Lane when the officer saw the four-wheeler driver accelerate, causing the vehicle to pop a wheelie and throw the driver and the child off the vehicle.
The officer made contact with Schnetzler and the child, checking for injuries. The four-wheeler then caught fire and the officer went back to the patrol vehicle to obtain a fire extinguisher, the report said.
Once the fire was extinguished, Schnetzler was seen walking into the woods, leaving behind the child, the report said. The officer tried to get his attention, but he ignored the officer and continued into the woods.
The child told the officer that Schnetzler was allegedly “really intoxicated,” the report said. The officer took the child back to his home, but no one was home, the report said.
The officer was eventually able to talk with the child’s mother, who had been out looking for the child. The mother also told police that Schnetzler was intoxicated, the report said.
Schnetzler was charged for driving the vehicle while allegedly intoxicated and then leaving the child after the crash, an arrest warrant said.
Schnetzler remains in the J. Reuben Long Detention Center without bail.
