Today, we remember South Carolina Highway Patrol Corporal Dana Kevin Cusack, Charleston County Police Patrolman William Leon Gooding, and Newberry Chain Gang Guard James Solomon Hargrove.
On this date in 1948, Patrolman Leon Gooding was shot and killed after he and his partner arrested a man on the John Island railroad tracks who had escaped from the South Carolina state mental hospital a month earlier. He had served with the Charleston County Police Department for five years. He was survived by his wife, two brothers, and two sisters.
On this date in 1896, Guard James Hargrove was struck with a pickaxe and killed by an inmate. The murderer was convicted and hanged.
On this date in 2010, Corporal Kevin Cusack was killed while driving his patrol car when he was involved in a single-vehicle accident. He was on patrol when his patrol car left the road as he drove on State Highway 200, about six miles south of Lancaster. Corporal Cusack was killed as a result. Corporal Cusack had served with the South Carolina Highway Patrol for 21 years. He is survived by his three children, mother, three sisters, and one brother.
