黑料社入口

The son-in-law of a former Horry County councilman accused local law enforcement of wrongfully arresting him in 2022.

Plaintiff Thomas Wade Long named Horry County Police Department and five of its employees as defendants for repeated incidents during the summer of 2022, according to a lawsuit filed April 3.

Former longtime councilman Harold Worley sought reelection as a 30-year incumbent to the District 1 seat on county council in the 2022 election, and the lawsuit claims Long was wrongfully arrested for his support of Worley.

The lawsuit states that defendants 鈥� former HCPD Chief Joseph Hill, former HCPD deputy chief Brandon Strickland and North Precinct head Lisa Vault 鈥� acted in support of Worley鈥檚 opponent and in retaliation of Long's endorsement of Worley鈥檚 candidacy. The suit also names two other officers in the department.

Hill retired from chief of HCPD in September 2024. Strickland resigned from deputy chief of HCPD March 11, 2025, in lieu of a S.C. Law Enforcement Division investigation into misconduct allegations, unrelated to Long鈥檚 lawsuit.聽

According to the suit, officers William Deitzel and William Dozier are believed to have acted under the orders of Vault, Strickland and Hill, and all defendants were "state actors acting under the color and scope of their authority as law enforcement officers" at the time of allegations in the lawsuit.聽

During the election of 2022, Long was involved in a lawsuit with TNT & More, Inc., a neighboring business, over ownership and use of a certain property in Little River.

Judge William Keesley issued a consent order July 27, 2021, stating 鈥渘either party interfere with the other鈥檚 business or exclude each other from the real property in question鈥� during its pending litigation.

In May 2022, Officer Dozier travelled to Long's commercial property to ask who displayed the sign promoting Worley鈥檚 candidacy, according to the lawsuit. Long and his business partner were not present, but Dozier learned Long paid Paul Thompson to put up the sign.

The lawsuit states Dozier then travelled to Thompson鈥檚 business and escorted him back to Little River using his blue lights, in violation of S.C. law, to remove the sign. The lawsuit accuses Dozier of 鈥渄estroying the property鈥� without notice or due process.

On May 22, 2022, Judge Stephen John issued a restraining order reiterating and reaffirming the conditions of Judge Keesley鈥檚 order. The lawsuit states that, despite these two orders, TNT & More, Inc. removed a hut belonging to the Long's business operations from the property.

On June 6, 2022, the lawsuit states Long planned to retrieve the hut and spoke with HCPD Officer Richard Lavender before doing so in fear of an altercation with TNT & More, Inc. Lavender instructed Long to call 911 should an altercation occur, the suit states.

Around 2 p.m., Long began to move the hut back to its original location and members of TNT & More, Inc. climbed onto Long's tractor, preventing him from replacing the hut. Feeling threatened, Long called 911. The lawsuit states defendant Deitzel arrived about 45 minutes later, and placed Long in handcuffs and arrested him with no explanation.

The lawsuit alleges Deitzel intentionally secured the handcuffs too tightly, cutting off circulation to Long's hands and 鈥渞oughly forced鈥� Long into the back of a police cruiser, with no air conditioning, while the temperature was approximately 90 degrees. After 20 minutes, the lawsuit states Long began to lose consciousness and started banging his head against the window to alert the police lingering around the car.

An officer eventually got into the cruiser and, en route to J. Reuben Long Detention Center, received a phone call on his cell phone from Dietzal, the suit states, adding this line of communication was intentional to protect communications from the Freedom of Information Act.

After the phone call, the officer stated he was returning Long to Little River to 鈥渦narrest鈥� him, the lawsuit said, and the officer stated 鈥淚 have never seen anything like this.鈥�

The suit states the officer and Long waited at the Little River Marina for Dietzal to 鈥渦narrest鈥� Long, and after 25 minutes, the officer removed Long's handcuffs and told him he was free to go. At that point, Long 鈥渨as served with a Uniform Traffic Citation declaring he was being charged with the unlawful use of a 911 call,鈥� the lawsuit said.

On June 17, 2022, Judge John issued a second restraining order reiterating the first and adding property must be restored to the condition of June 27, 2021, the suit reads.

Long and his attorney, according to the lawsuit, provided Vault with copies of all three circuit court orders that state Long acted lawfully in conducting business on the real property. The lawsuit said Vault stated the orders were 鈥渘ot worth the paper it's printed on.鈥�

Later in the year 2024, Long realized the citation issued from the June 6 incident was never filed and, at the time, he hired an attorney and served discovery requests on HCPD in regards to the citation, and received no response.

The lawsuit states 鈥淧laintiff was damaged in that he sustained severe emotional distress, injury to his reputation, increased costs due to the harassment, and a permanent fear and distrust of law enforcement.鈥�

Long is requesting a jury trial. The defendants are required to respond to the lawsuit within 30 days after the lawsuit was filed.

HCPD spokesperson Mikayla Moskov said the county does not provide comment on pending litigation.

Other defendants named in the lawsuit were unable to be reached at the time of publication.