COLUMBIA, S.C. — A Richland County deputy who was hit by a car while directing traffic Tuesday night has been released from the hospital.
“We’re very lucky. The deputy was hit, the deputy was knocked a long ways," Richland County Sheriff Leon Lott said. "We’re just very fortunate that he doesn't have serious injuries, not killed.”
Lott says around 8 p.m. Tuesday night one of his deputies was helping direct traffic after an accident on Caughman and Benson Road when he was struck by a car.
“The highway patrol works all the accidents. We were there helping out and directing traffic because we had EMS and fire trucks, a lot of people there," Lott said. "So the deputy was just assisting, and as he was directing traffic, we had a car just totally disregard him and hit him, knocked him pretty good. He had to be transported to the hospital by ambulance.”
The deputy who was hit is Trivonn Geathers. He’s been with the sheriff's department since November 2023.
Lott says Geathers was wearing a reflective vest when he was hit, something all deputies are required to do for safety.
“When our deputies are out in the public and directing traffic, they wear this reflective vest, it's very visible at night," Lott said. "It reflects, and so this is what he had on last night. If you can't see it, it's because you're not looking at it and that's what we tend to see with accidents like this.”
According to the sheriff, accidents like these aren’t uncommon.
"When you see blue lights, red lights, you see ambulances, fire truck, you see law enforcement there, don't be so nosy that you want to watch that and take your eyes off the road and where you're driving," Lott said. "You got to be focused on what's important and that's controlling that vehicle that you're driving. We see this all too often, people get tunnel vision and want to see what's happening instead of focusing on driving, and that's what happened last night, and fortunately, our deputy didn't get killed.”
The sheriff's department says deputy Geathers' injuries weren’t life threatening.
“He was transported to the hospital last night, and he's checked out," Lott said. "He's very sore. Again, his knees took the brunt of the hit. We expect him to return to duty soon, but he's going to be okay.”
The sheriff's department says the driver of Tuesday's accident will face charges. SC Highway Patrol has yet to release what those will be as the accident is still under investigation.
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