South Carolina deputy charged with killing unarmed man and letting police dog maul innocent person

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — A deputy in South Carolina has been charged with voluntary manslaughter and assault after he fatally shot an unarmed suspect five times and his police dog mauled a different, innocent person, authorities said.

State agents arrested former Florence County deputy Treyvon Jonathan Sellers on Wednesday. He was on leave after the May 26 shooting and was fired in July after an arrest in an unrelated domestic violence case.

Sellers was awaiting a bond hearing at the Florence County jail on Thursday. Jail records did not indicate if he had a lawyer.

Sellers was chasing 43-year-old William Dwayne Rankin when Rankin crashed into a tree and ran into a nearby home near Florence, the State Law Enforcement Division said in a sworn statement.

Sellers went into the home through the back door with his police dog, which was not on a leash, and didn’t announce who he was, state agents said.

He then ordered the dog to attack without knowing who was inside. The dog bit the owner of the home, who was not involved in the chase and did not know Sellers, agents said.

While the dog attacked the homeowner, Sellers shot Rankin five times as he lay on a couch, according to the sworn statement.

<bsp-list-loadmore data-module="" class=«PageListStandardB» data-gtm-region=«RELATED COVERAGE» data-gtm-topic=«No Value» data-show-loadmore=«true» data-gtm-modulestyle=«List B»> <bsp-custom-headline custom-headline=«div»> RELATED COVERAGE </bsp-custom-headline> <bsp-custom-headline custom-headline=«div»> South Carolina coach Shane Beamer is different than most others: He likes his Gamecocks </bsp-custom-headline> <bsp-custom-headline custom-headline=«div»> 3 years into a life sentence, Alex Murdaugh to get his day before the South Carolina