Richland deputy pinned by a car describes daily pain. Juvenile suspect to stay in jail

A Richland County sheriff’s deputy described Wednesday how she continues to struggle with daily pain, neurological damage and potentially early onset arthritis after being hit by a car driven by a fleeing suspect.

“I will carry this experience with me for the rest of my life,” Deputy Sarah Merriman said in Richland County General Sessions Court Wednesday, adding she may need hip replacements.

Merriman testified during a hearing to determine if 17-year-old Jamon Chetham, who is charged with attempted murder in her assault, could be released before trial.

Judge Debra McClaslin denied the defense’s motion to reduce Cheatham’s $150,000 bond or to change the status of his confinement.

“I think he’s lucky he got a $150,000 bond, because if he’d appeared in front of me I would have given him no bond,” McClaslin said.

Cheatham, who Richland County Sheriff Leon Lott once held up as a poster child of a broken “catch and release” system, has been jailed in the juvenile wing of the Alvin S. Glenn Detention Center since deputies say he struck Merriman with a stolen car in August 2022. He was allegedly fleeing an arrest.

Merriman was crushed between two cars and suffered a fractured hip, a concussion, a cut to her head requiring stitches and an abrasion to her leg.

After spending two months on crutches, Merriman said she has been able to return to work at the department’s SWAT team and with her K9, Rudy.

“I get a daily reminder of what my body can’t do,” Merriman said.

Defense attorney Hope Demer, who represented Cheatham, expressed sympathy for Merriman, but urged the court to remember that Cheatham “stands before you an innocent man. He’s barely a man,” Demer said. “He is still a child.”

Cheatham was not trying to harm Merriman, Demer said, and in fact he likely did not see the deputy when he reversed the the car he was driving into her.

Demer’s motion asked that Cheatham’s bond be reduced to a more attainable $50,000. She also asked that if he were to be released on house arrest with an ankle monitor that he be able to go to work and help support his family.

These changes were fiercely opposed by Lott, who also appeared in court.

“This suspect nearly killed one of my deputies and he should remain in jail while he awaits trial,” Lott said in a statement. “We know that an ankle monitor and house arrest does not deter crime.”

Although he doesn’t turn 18 for another two months, Cheatham has been charged as an adult, meaning his case is being heard in general sessions court. When he turns 18, he will be transferred to the adult wing of the Alvin S. Glenn Detention Center.

Cheatham appeared shackled in court, in a red Alvin S. Glenn jumpsuit. His mother, Martha Miller, spoke briefly and asked the judge to consider releasing her son before the trial.

“I guarantee he has learned his lesson,” Miller said, choking up as she described his three younger siblings who looked up to him and how he got a high school certificate at 16. Miller lives in Orangeburg, where Cheatham is from.

“He loves to work, he loves people. He deserves a better life,” Miller said.

Lott disagreed with that assessment, pointing to Cheatham’s lengthy juvenile record, which could not be disclosed, but that McClaslin considered in making her ruling.

“This is someone who doesn’t need to be in our community,” Lott said.

In advocating for changing her client’s condition, Demer pointed to the notorious conditions inside of the Alvin S. Glenn Detention Center, describing it as “an incredibly dangerous place for anyone, particularly for a child.”

“I have lost track of the number of clients that I have had who’ve been assaulted, who’ve been stabbed inside of Alvin S Glenn,” Demer said.

The state was represented by Assistant 5th Circuit Solicitor Paul Walton, who played surveillance and body camera footage from the incident. They showed how on Aug. 9, 2022, Merriman suffered serious injuries to her head and body after Cheatham allegedly struck her with a stolen car.

Merriman was responding to a report of a stolen vehicle in the Dentsville area, according to a statement released by the sheriff’s department. Video footage showed deputies surrounding a white 2014 Ford Focus sedan, which had pulled into a parking spot in front of Fast Cash Pawn at 6908 Two Notch Road. Merriman exited her cruiser seconds before the Ford quickly reversed, crushing the deputy between the two cars.

Deputies apprehended Cheatham at the scene, while Merriman was rushed to the hospital in the back of another deputy’s car. In court, she remembered being unable to open her eyes from the pain.

Cheatham was charged with attempted murder, failure to stop for blue lights, committing a hit-and-run, and possession of a stolen vehicle.

At a press conference in August, Lott criticized the court’s decision to grant a $150,000 bond for Cheatham.

A groundswell of bipartisan support appeared to emerge in the legislature to toughen South Carolina’s bail laws. In October, state Sens. Brian Adams and Dick Harpootlian announced that they were exploring legislation to make it harder for repeat offenders to obtain bond.

“I do criminal defense work, everybody is entitled to their bond,” said Harpootlian, D-Richland. “But it’s a problem that’s plaguing the entire state.”

That effort seems to have come to fruition. On March 1, the South Carolina House of Representatives passed House Bill 3532, which would automatically revoke bond for individuals charged with certain violent crimes, weapons offenses, or crimes against children while out on bond for another violent offense.

Under the new bill, people convicted of committing a violent crime while out on bond for a separate charge would face an additional mandatory sentence of five years in prison.

It follows Gov. Henry McMaster decision to sign an executive order in October ordering the Department of Insurance to crack down on bondsmen who fail to report individuals who violated their bonds.