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Fired Richland County deputy also facing lawsuit over previous incident

A lawsuit says the deputy went into a woman's home without a warrant, guns drawn, woke her and her family up and forced her to go outside to speak with them.

COLUMBIA, S.C. — We're learning more about a Richland County deputy who was fired and arrested after video showed him grabbing a woman by the hair and throwing her to the ground.

Former Master Deputy Kyle Oliver is also named in a lawsuit that claims he and another deputy entered a woman's home, guns drawn, without a warrant.

RELATED: Richland deputy fired, accused of assaulting woman in custody

"This is one of those days when you just stand up here and you shake your head, and go, 'Why? Why?'" said Richland County Sheriff, Leon Lott, in a press conference Wednesday.

He announced the arrest of former Richland County Deputy Kyle Oliver, following an incident caught on body camera video.

Credit: RCSD

The incident happened January 7, after Oliver arrested a woman in the Broad River Road area for a domestic violence case. She was arrested and taken to RCSD's Region 4 Headquarters on Beatty Road.

"She was highly agitated, she started hitting her head, banging the back of her head up against the wall and actually put a hole in the wall," said Richland County Sheriff Leon Lott.

As the woman sat handcuffed on the bench, that's when Deputy Oliver is shown on body cam video walking over to her, grabbing her with two hands by the hair, and throwing her to the ground.

Sheriff Lott says this incident never came to his attention because no complaint was filed, and the false use-of-force report written by the deputy was not caught by investigators - even though it's a policy to review them.

A tipster called the department Monday suggesting they watch the body camera video again.

News 19 learned that Oliver is named in a lawsuit for an incident that happened two years ago.

The lawsuit claims on September 1, 2018 in Chapin, Oliver and another deputy were investigating a car that ran into a ditch, hit a few trees and left the scene.

The lawsuit says deputies were not given a detailed description of the driver other than the driver was "a female."

Credit: Ryan C. Andrews

The suit says the deputies went into a woman's home without a warrant, guns drawn, woke her and her family up and forced her to go outside to speak with them.

Credit: Ryan C. Andrews

The lawsuit goes on to say as the deputies were approaching the woman's property, one can be heard on body cam video saying, "All we're going to do is scare the hell out of her."

Credit: Ryan C. Andrews

The Richland County Sheriff's Department can't comment on pending cases.

29-year-old Kyle Oliver, hired with RSCD in 2013, was fired and arrested Wednesday morning for assault and battery 3rd degree.

As a result of Oliver's assault case, Sheriff Lott says he is creating a new position within the department. The role of this new investigator will be to review body camera footage of use-of-force incidents.

"This is what people are protesting about. That's what people want their voices to be heard about," said Lott. "They don't wanna see stuff like this. They don't want this to happen and I don't either."

    

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