WIS News 10 - Columbia, South Carolina | Report: Retired patrolman brings gun on school trip

Report: Retired patrolman brings gun on school trip

By Jordan Sandler - bio | email

COLUMBIA, SC (WIS) - Newberry authorities are investigating a report that a retired South Carolina Highway Patrol trooper went on a school trip with about 100 students and parents while carrying a loaded weapon inside a holster.

According to an incident report, Prosperity-Rikard Elementary School principal Timothy Lyden, said the trip was a field trip to Cherokee, North Carolina. They took two charter commercial buses. And on the way back from the trip, one of the buses was having a problem with it's air conditioning system.

According to the report, the buses pulled over in Laurens County, and the retired Patrolman left his pistol with a teacher, stating that the item was cleared.

The teacher stated that it was dark on the bus and she thought that the item was a water bottle. It was placed in the seat beside her.

The patrolman got off the bus and assisted with the other bus, then got back on the bus and placed his weapon back on his side. This is when the teacher realized that the subject had placed a weapon beside her.

During the trip, it was reported that the subject wore the weapon on his hip and that it was in a holster.

The report stated the patrolman is a parent of a child at the school and that most parents were aware that the subject was a retired state trooper.

Sid Gaulden with the Department of Public Safety says that the Office of Professional Responsibility (which is part of DPS) is investigating the incident.

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