After son’s attack, mother wants Five Points ‘to glow’ with new safety measures

The tracking app on her son’s phone said he was at Prisma Health Richland hospital.

Allen Adkins had gotten a call from her son’s girlfriend about 2:30 a.m. on March 18. Adkins’ son hadn’t come home and hadn’t called, the girlfriend told her.

At the hospital, staffers said they didn’t have a patient under the name Logan Adkins. As the women waited for answers outside the hospital, two security guards spoke up.

“’We did have that unidentified trauma come in,’” one of the guards said.

Adkins collapsed into into a column when she heard “unidentified trauma.”

It was her son. She knew it.

Her son was attacked in Five Points on a block of Harden Street that has seen vicious crime in the past. It’s a block that security cameras can miss, making the police’s jobs harder. The Five Point Merchant Association is focused on securing and fixing up the block., and the city has plans to shore up public safety in the area.

Adkins lived every parents’ nightmare — not knowing where her child was or if he was safe. Now, she’s calling for more public safety measures for one of Columbia’s most well known areas.

“I just want the whole place to glow,” she said.

Revamped

Multiple people attacked Logan at about 2:05 a.m, according to a police report. The attack, which seemed to come from nowhere, was quick. An officer arrived about three minutes later and found Logan seriously injured.

When Logan arrived at the hospital, doctors got no response from his left side, Adkins said. He had a brain bleed, a concussion and four facial fractures. Doctors put him on a ventilator.

He was hospitalized for nine days and went through a week of rehabilitation. He’s preparing for more rehab and testing, Adkins said.

Investigators have little evidence to work with while trying to track down Logan’s attackers. A police report said someone wearing a black hoodie with a green or pink design ran off. Police pulled grainy footage from a nearby camera, but Adkins said she can’t even recognize her son because of the video quality. Others were nearby but no one is speaking up, police said.

She’s pushing for more cameras to be installed and existing ones to be upgraded in Five Points. She wants more and better lighting that gets brighter as the night goes on.

“I want it to be a place to deter crime,” Allen said. She wants a would-be criminal to “know you’re going to get your face caught on camera or you know someone’s going to see you ... because it’s so bright.”

Five Points has more than 100 cameras currently installed. But some are more than a decade old.

“The system needs to be revamped,” said Steve Cook, owner of Saluda’s restaurant and president of the Five Points Association.

Nobody wants that more than the merchants and residents of Five Points, Cook said.

The 800 block of Harden Street was the site of dozens of assaults and fights from 2006 to 2017. A now closed bar at the corner or Harden and Greene streets was blamed for the block’s reputation.

The back side of an alley that used to be dirty and dimly lit on the 800 block was improved by a $250,000 paving and beautification funded by the city and association in recent months, Cook said. Parts of the 800 block of Harden are key areas that the Five Points Association is focused on improving.

Crime isn’t the only issue.

Just down the street on the 700 block of Harden on March 20, a pedestrian was hit by a car that sped off. No arrests have been announced in the case. A 2020 state Department of Transportation study found the stretch of Harden Street between Blossom and Assembly streets is the most dangerous street for pedestrians and bicyclists in South Carolina.

State Rep. Seth Rose, D-Richland, said the state has allocated $4 million for a plan to narrow and improve Harden Street and hopefully make it safer.

“We want to address this and foster a more business friendly environment to recruit business to the historic Five Points district,” Rose said.

Adkins and Five Points businesses may not be waiting too much longer for the improvements they want.

Columbia City Councilman Will Brennan, who represents most of Five Points, said council has approved funding for new cameras to be installed across the city with a focus on the popular college drinking spot.

The area is growing with new businesses and new economic opportunities, Brennan said, and with that growth comes the need for more public safety.

“You got to have that presence for folks to feel safe,” he said. “I feel very confidant that Columbia Police Department is doing that.”

Assembling a team

The city’s camera system has made Five Points safer and crimes easier to solve overall, Chief Skip Holbrook said.

But the current camera system has limitations, he said. And in Logan Adkins’s case, it didn’t capture the attack.

The new camera system is being “vetted” before installation, Holbrook said. The camera upgrades will begin this year. And he anticipates more lighting to be installed though no timeline is in place.

Beyond new cameras and lighting, the Columbia Police Department has enacted a number of plans and initiatives under Holbrook’s command to make Five Points safer.

The department partnered with the University of South Carolina campus police to beef up patrols on nights when the college crowds are out. Columbia police created a ride share pick-up point that’s staffed by officers. The department also partners with state agents to enforce alcohol laws and to patrol in Five Points. Undercover Columbia officers patrol nearby neighborhoods where people have been historically victimized.

The department also has community outreach and awareness campaigns to provide safety tips for people and businesses. Officers maintain contact with bar owners to address safety concerns. Two police substations are in Five Points.

A new police team might help alleviate public safety concerns.

The Columbia Police Department is forming an exclusive team to work in The Vista, Main Street, BullStreet and Five Points. Team members will be hand-picked officers who work primarily in those areas, Holbrook said.

The idea is to have officers who make connections with workers, business owners, frequent visitors and nearby residents in the entertainment districts.

The department will have officers “who want to be there” in the entertainment districts.

“We want the right people to be in the right places all the time,” Holbrook said.

The department has hired a 30-year police veteran who Holbrook said will bring a wealth of knowledge and skills to fulfill a key component of the team — creating a safer drinking culture by connecting with bars.

“We’ve got to eliminate over-serving,” Holbrook said, adding that bar owners need to take ownership of that issue. “All that does is create victims.”

There have been less victims in Five Points. During the 12 months that ended in March, all violent, property and minor crimes declined when compared to the same 12 months the year before, according to Columbia Police Department data, though Five Points’ atmosphere was impacted by the pandemic.

But some high profile and violent cases, such as the shooting of Martha Childress in 2013 and the killing of Samantha Josephson in 2019, often overshadow gains.

Even with all their efforts, the challenge for police and the Five Points Association is to make the area not just be safe but feel safe.

“We always have a few outliers but I personally feel we’ve changed the environment down there significantly,” Holbrook said.

Motherly resolve

Adkins believes the Columbia Police Department has done all it could in her son’s case. And she doesn’t blame the drinking culture and atmosphere of Five Point for the attack.

She’s hung out in Five Points plenty of times. And she knows it’s not just for partying college kids. Parents come. Out-of-towners visit. Workers serve customers. Coffee drinkers get buzzed during the day. Bar flies relax at happy hour.

She doesn’t want to see that end because people don’t think it’s safe. So, she’s pushing, with all her motherly love motivating her, for the area to be as safe as possible for everyone.

“I knew I couldn’t heal Logan,” Allen said. “But I knew I could do something to make a change.”