“Greenwood, I’ve got shots fired on Hospital. Shots fired.”
Greenwood Police Department Lt. Matthew Caughman’s voice was loud and clear, calling over the radio the night of May 21 after a call he was investigating turned violent. Moments earlier he had been inside the North Hospital Street residence of 60-year-old Willie Lee Quarles, where he and Quarles struggled and a shot went off, hitting Caughman in his protective vest.
In return, Caughman fired 12 times, striking and killing Quarles.
On Wednesday, the police department shared with the Index-Journal dashcam video from Caughman’s patrol car that captured the sights and sounds of that day. State Law Enforcement Division officers are still investigating Caughman’s fatal shooting of Quarles, and Caughman remains on paid leave pending the outcome of the investigation.
Calls from Greenwood County’s emergency 911 dispatch associated with this case were also released to the Index-Journal following a Freedom of Information Act request, as were documents in Caughman’s city personnel file. A request for reports associated with the case was denied pending the resolution of the investigation, while a request for body camera video was denied on grounds that body camera recordings are not considered public record under state law.
In a 911 call made at about 9:10 p.m. May 21, a woman tells dispatchers that Quarles had a gun in his house, and two hours earlier had held that gun to her head. She told the dispatcher he was sitting on his porch at the time she called. Another call, from dispatchers to officers, explains the call. An officer who is not Caughman says he is busy and can’t go to look into the situation.
“Just give it to the next available,” he said to the dispatcher. “It obviously isn’t an extreme emergency because they waited a couple hours to call. We’ll get there as soon as we can.”
Caughman’s dashcam video starts at about 9:22 p.m., showing the view from the dashboard through the windshield of Caughman’s patrol car as he drives toward Hospital Street.
The audio recorded with this video comes from a microphone in the dashboard-mounted camera, so all that’s heard is recorded from inside the patrol car. Caughman approaches Quarles’ residence and pulls over to speak with a woman, then parks his patrol car in front of the house and leaves it to go investigate. Little can be heard from outside the car, though dispatch chatter continues.
People are seen crossing the road and cars travel past as what sounds like muffled shouting is caught by the microphone. Then, at 9:24 p.m., the video catches the sound of a single gunshot.
After a pause of about 10 seconds, 12 more shots are heard. Shortly after, Caughman is heard calling to dispatch to report shots fired. Upon repeat listens, some of what he says is hard to make out, but after a while he says “I believe I’m 10-4, I don’t think I’m hit.”
Greenwood Police Department Public Information Officer Jonathan Link said Caughman had his bodycam turned on, but that video wasn’t released to the Index-Journal. He said Caughman was shot once, and the bullet was stopped by his protective vest. Link confirmed Caughman fired 12 times in response, killing Quarles.
Police said in an earlier news release that when Caughman arrived, a man and woman were outside the residence and the woman gave him a bullet she said belonged to the man. The three went inside and into the living room, where the man denied having a gun.
When Caughman tried to frisk Quarles to check for a gun, he resisted, and the two ended up falling to the ground in a struggle, police said. That’s when Quarles reportedly pulled a revolver from his clothes and shot Caughman in the chest, followed by Caughman firing back.
Quarles died at the scene. Caughman was taken to the hospital to be checked on, but his vest stopped the bullet and left him only bruised.
The moments captured on camera after the shooting are hectic, as the sound of sirens get louder and multiple law enforcement vehicles arrive on scene. EMS and fire-rescue staff also arrive, but leave shortly after, likely after confirming Quarles had died. Officers check Caughman for injuries in front of his patrol car, having him remove his vest to see if the bullet had gone through.
Officers are seen securing the scene with police tape while others took Caughman’s protective vest and secured it in his patrol vehicle. Link said it was handed over as evidence to SLED.
A small crowd gathered at a residence just outside the police tape, and as time goes on, the crowd grows. From inside the patrol vehicle, the sound of muffled shouting occasionally makes it through. The video continues for a total of about three hours, lasting into the early hours of the following day.
SLED is still investigating Caughman’s shooting of Quarles, along with an earlier shooting on Feb. 11. In the February case, officer Cory Boyter was chasing a man with a gun at Phoenix Place Apartments, and during a scuffle, Boyter’s gun came loose and ended up underneath the two men. The suspect in that case got Boyter’s gun and fired it, although no one was hit.
Following Quarles’ death, local Black Lives Matter chapter co-founder Travis Greene made statements online and in public protests that Boyter was the officer responsible for shooting Quarles.
He said he would correct his statement online, but said the misunderstanding was the consequence of the police department not releasing the officer’s identity following Quarles’ death. Greene said he had heard from multiple people close to the situation that Boyter had been the responding officer, and in the absence of information from the police, their word was all he had to go on.
