Eden deadly hit-and-run suspect posts $10K bail after being charged

Updated: 6:44 PM EDT Jun 11, 2020

A man taken into custody for a deadly hit-and-run posted bail in Rockingham County Thursday. Joseph Lee Fluellen, 27, was charged with felony hit-and-run, posted $10,000 bail and was released, according to deputies. His next court date is Tuesday.Click the video player above for headlines from WXII 12 News.Eden police officers responded to the area of Hundley Street and Maryland Avenue at about 4 p.m. Sunday in reference to a bicyclist struck by a vehicle.When police arrived, they found Michael Workman, of Eden, lying in the road. He was pronounced dead at the scene.Fluellen left the area and headed east on Maryland Avenue, according to officers. Investigators identified Fluellen as the primary suspect.

EDEN, N.C. —

A man taken into custody for a deadly hit-and-run posted bail in Rockingham County Thursday.

Joseph Lee Fluellen, 27, was charged with felony hit-and-run, posted $10,000 bail and was released, according to deputies. His next court date is Tuesday.

Click the video player above for headlines from WXII 12 News.

Eden police officers responded to the area of Hundley Street and Maryland Avenue at about 4 p.m. Sunday in reference to a bicyclist struck by a vehicle.

When police arrived, they found Michael Workman, of Eden, lying in the road. He was pronounced dead at the scene.

Fluellen left the area and headed east on Maryland Avenue, according to officers. Investigators identified Fluellen as the primary suspect.

HORRY COUNTY, SC (WMBF) — An investigation is underway after a former Tennessee Tech football player was arrested on charges of driving under the influence in a deadly hit-and-run in South Carolina Saturday.

23-year-old Riley Patton is charged with felony DUI resulting in death and leaving the scene of an accident involving death after officials say he struck a truck and pedestrian around 1:00 a.m off Hwy 544 and Cabots Creek Drive near Myrtle Beach.

According to Max Preps, Patton played long snapper, center, and defensive tackle at Halls High School. He graduated in 2015.

SCHP says Patton was driving his 2002 GMC truck eastbound on 544 when he ran into the center median, hitting a 2001 Ford truck in that lane and a pedestrian near the Ford truck.

The Horry County Coroner’s Office says 55-year-old Timothy “Timmy” Shulkcum of Myrtle Beach was hit by the GMC truck and pronounced dead at the scene.

Corporal Sonny Collins with the South Carolina Highway Patrol says Patton continued driving after the incident before being apprehended at a nearby grocery store.

A spokesperson with Coastal Carolina University confirms Patton is currently enrolled as a student. Patton was listed as a long snapper on the 2019 Coastal Carolina Football roster, but the walk-on graduate transfer played no snaps as a Chanticleer. CCU says Patton no longer has eligibility.

“Riley Patton is a student at Coastal Carolina and was a member of the football team in the fall semester and no longer has eligibility,” a spokesman said in a text to WMBF News. “Thus he is no longer a member of the football team.”

At an initial bond hearing in Conway Saturday, a Horry County judge set Patton’s bond at $200,000 for the hit-and-run and DUI charges. Patton is also required to wear a location monitoring system.

The Knoxville, Tennessee native spent the first four years of his college career at Tennessee Tech.

SCHP says the investigation is ongoing.

WMBF News will continue to update this developing story as more information is made available.

Copyright 2020 WMBF. All rights reserved.

Suspect in Warren County vehicle break-ins arrested

Warren County Sheriff Martin Pace told 3 On Your Side a man wanted in connection with break-ins of several commercial trucks parked on Gibson Road has been arrested.Cody Dogan, 22, was picked up Wednesday, after a Crime Stoppers tip.

Surveillance video from deadly home invasion in Penn Hills played in court

Two men ordered to stand trial in death of Aaron Evans, who was shot at home on Lawton Street in Penn Hills

Updated: 12:55 PM EST Jan 17, 2020

Two men were ordered to stand trial Friday, following a preliminary hearing where surveillance video from a deadly home invasion in Penn Hills was introduced as evidence.Click the video player above to watch the report from Municipal Court, including footage from the surveillance video.Laron Howard, 20, and Laquon Perkins, 19, are charged with homicide, burglary, robbery and conspiracy in the death of Aaron Evans, 35, who police said was found shot Oct. 6 at his home on Lawton Street.Police said a video surveillance camera that was positioned inside the house captured the home invasion and the minutes leading up to Evans’ death. A portion of that video was played in court Friday.Two witnesses, including a juvenile probation officer who supervised Howard and Perkins, said the defendants were the people in the video.”I think the testimony was extremely questionable. I think it fails to properly and sufficiently identify who the people in the video are, particularly my client,” said Perkins’ defense attorney, Ken Haber.”Sometimes they might purport as though they’re very damning, but when you look at it — and any person who’s seen multiple people in grainy videos — I don’t believe that it’s so damaging to my client,” said Howard’s defense attorney, Dave Shrager. “In fact, I think it’s helpful and I think we scored some great points today.”Howard and Perkins are being held in the Allegheny County Jail as they await trial. The next hearing in the case is set for Feb. 19.

A former Jacksonville Jaguar faces possible jail time after a deadly crash, even though his car got hit from behind.

A semi hit a car driven by Julius Williams November 19, 2015. He calls it an accident, but in March of 2017, more than 15 months after the crash, Williams was charged with vehicular homicide.

The arrest warrant said Williams was driving in an “aggressive and erratic manner” when the sedan he was driving crossed into the path of the semi, which could not avoid the crash.

Williams was driving to a Thursday night Jaguars game at EverBank Field, with friend Anthony Smith, who won Super Bowls with the Steelers and the Packers.

“By the grace of God, we survived,” Smith said. “We mourn for the loss of the other family but it was just an unfortunate incident, an unfortunate accident.”

A jury found Williams not guilty of vehicular homicide, but he still faces up to 90 days in jail after being convicted on the lesser charge of reckless driving.

“It’s disheartening but I’m very grateful that the jury was able to see that Mr. Williams was not responsible for the fatality,” said Sir Maejor Page, of the Georgia Commission on Racial and Social Justice.

Williams appeared at the Duval County courthouse Monday, where friends planned to speak on his behalf before sentencing.

That appearance got pushed back because the family of the semi driver didn’t appear in court.

Williams’ agent Bobby Morgan who organized a group of supporters to appear in court is asking for leniency.

“It really hurts,” Morgan said. “He was hit from behind.”

Smith, who works with Williams helping Atlanta kids through the group Battle of the Trenches says he’d do more good serving kids than serving time.

“We definitely can’t lose a guy like Julius,” Smith said.

Williams lives in Atlanta and is due back in court on Friday. His attorneys advised him not to answer questions on-camera.

The state attorney’s office is not commenting on this case until after sentencing.

© 2018 WTLV

Online gamers have said in multiple Twitter posts that the shooting of a man Thursday night by Wichita police was the result of a “swatting” hoax involving two gamers.

RELATED STORIES: Family says son killed by police in ‘swatting’ was unarmed, didn’t play video games | Pivot Point: If shooter games lead to real-life death, it’s time to hit pause

Swatting happened when someone makes a call to a police department with a false story of an ongoing crime – often with killing or hostages involved – in an attempt to draw a large number of police officers to a particular address.

Swatting has gained traction across the country with online gamers. Those who try to cause the swatting incident will use caller ID spoofing or other techniques to disguise their number as being local. Or they call local non-emergency numbers instead of 911, according to 911.gov.

Deputy Wichita Police Chief Troy Livingston said Thursday night that police were looking into whether the call that led to the shooting was a case of swatting.

Livingston said the department received a call that someone had an argument with their mother, that the father had been shot in the head and the shooter was holding his mother, brother and sister hostage.

“That was the information we were working off of,” he said.

Officers went to the 1000 block of McCormick, preparing for a hostage situation and they “got into position,” he said.

“A male came to the front door,” Livingston said. “As he came to the front door, one of our officers discharged his weapon.”

Livingston didn’t say if the man, who was 28, had a weapon when he came to the door, or what caused the officer to shoot the man. Police don’t think the man fired at officers, but the incident is still under investigation, he said. The man, who has not been identified by police, died at a local hospital.

A family member identified that man who was shot by police as Andrew Finch. One of Finch’s cousins said Finch didn’t play video games.

“This call was little peculiar for us,” Livingston said. “(The call) went to a substation first, then it was relayed to dispatch, then dispatch gave it to us. We have a lot of information to go through.”

On Twitter, more than a dozen people who identified themselves as being in the gaming community told The Eagle that a feud between two Call of Duty players sparked one to initiate a “swatting” call.

After news began to spread about what happened Thursday night, the people in the gaming community, through Twitter posts, pointed at two gamers.

The Twitter account for a man who the online gaming community has said made the police swatting call has been suspended.

Twitter Courtesy photo

“I DIDNT GET ANYONE KILLED BECAUSE I DIDNT DISCHARGE A WEAPON AND BEING A SWAT MEMBER ISNT MY PROFESSION,” said one gamer, who others said made the swatting call. His account was suspended overnight.

According to posts on Twitter, two gamers were arguing when one threatened to target the other with a swatting call. The person who was the target of the swatting gave the other gamer a false address, which sent police to a nearby home instead of his own, according to Twitter posts.

The Twitter account for a man who the online gaming community has said made the police swatting call has been suspended.

Twitter Courtesy photo

The person who was to be the target of the swatting sent a Tweet saying, “Someone tried to swat me and got an innocent man killed.”

Livingston, the deputy police chief, would only provide the block number of the home where the shooting occurred, not the specific address. Police were seen in the front yards of two houses across from each other at the corner of Seneca and McCormick.

Dexerto, a online news service focused on gaming and the Call of Duty game, reported the argument began over a $1 or $2 wager over the game.

“Normally this is a prank, but due to the high stress situation, sometimes it is closer to a death threat from a user trying to get cops to kill them,” one man told The Eagle in an email.

The officer who fired the shot — a seven-year veteran of the police department — will be placed on administrative paid leave, which is department policy.

Police expect to release more information later Friday.