Police officer placed on leave

The Seneca police officer involved in Sunday night’s fatal shooting of a 19-year old man has been placed on administrative leave, pending the outcome of the state police investigation. Yesterday’s announcement by Chief Covington states the name of the officer is not being released at this time. Meantime, according to its spokesman, the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division investigation of the death of Seneca resident Zachary Hammond will include interviews “with everyone who was involved in the incident….” The Seneca police press release gives this account: “On July 26th at approximately 8:20 pm, an undercover illegal drug investigation being conducted by our narcotics division, culminated in the back parking lot of Hardees on By-Pass 123 within the city. A uniformed officer, who was out of the patrol vehicle on foot assisting the narcotics division, attempted to stop and arrest the driver of the vehicle when the driver failed to comply and drove his vehicle directly at the officer. The officer fired 2 shots in self defense, fatally striking the 19-year old white male driver. A passenger in the vehicle, Tori Dianna Morton, 23 yoa W/F from Pickens, was unharmed and was later arrested for Simple Possession of Marijuana. SLED investigators and Crime Scene Units were immediately dispatched and took over the shooting investigation…..