South Carolina police arrested a sheriff’s deputy on Wednesday for shooting an unarmed suspect and causing his police dog to maul an innocent bystander. Deputy Treyvon Jonathan Sellers was charged with voluntary manslaughter and assault & battery of a high and aggravated nature.

According to Sellers’s arrest warrant, “On May 26, 2024, … Sellers attempted a traffic stop on Dewayne Rankin for reckless driving.” However, Rankin led Sellers on a four-minute pursuit before crashing into a tree. Rankin then fled into a nearby home with Sellers following suit with his K9. He gave his K9 an “apprehend command” without knowledge of the homeowner’s presence in the house. The K9 ended up viciously attacking the homeowner for around eighty-seven seconds. The homeowner “sustained permanent disfigurement and impairment to his left arm and left shoulder.” When the deputy found Rankin lying on a couch unarmed, he shot Rankin five times. Florence County Sheriff TJ Joye requested an investigation from the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division (SLED) into Sellers’s shooting a few days later.

Sellers worked as a police officer for over seven years and was with the Florence County Sheriff’s Office (FCSO) from October 3, 2022, to July 30, 2024, records obtained by FitsNews show. The FCSO fired Sellers after SLED started to investigate Sellers’s potential involvement in domestic violence. The next day, he was arrested on charges of third-degree domestic violence and breach of peace during a violent incident with his wife.

If Sellers is convicted of voluntary manslaughter, he faces two to thirty years imprisonment. Additionally, if Sellers is convicted of assault & battery of a high and aggravated nature, he faces a maximum of twenty years imprisonment.