By Vicki Brown
The investigation into the tragic Mother’s Day accident between a Colleton County family and a Charleston County deputy has come to an end.
Charleston County Deputy Emily Pelletier has been charged with three counts of reckless homicide that killed Shanice Dantzler-Williams, 28; Stephania Dantzler, 53; and Miranda Dantzler, 22.
All three women were in the same family and were traveling back to Colleton County on the night on May 8.
According to the S.C. Highway Patrol’s investigation, Pelletier was going 73 miles per hour when she went past a stop sign and smashed into the Dantzler’s sedan, killing the mother and her two daughters.
Pelletier was enroute to a call to help a driver with car problems on Savannah Highway when the crash occurred.
Charleston Sheriff Kristin Graziano says that not only were Pelletier’s blue lights and sirens not activated on her patrol cruiser at the time of the crash, but Pelletier also ignored the stop sign at Savannah Highway and New Road.
Warrants for Pelletier’s arrest came after a news conference on June 8 when Charleston County Sheriff Kristin Graziano announced the findings of the CCSO’s internal investigation into the crash. In the interview, Sheriff Kristin Graziano said, “There’s no doubt about the facts,” Graziano said. “She ran a stop sign and collided with the vehicle that was driven by Shanice Dantzler-Williams.”
Pelletier was taken to an area hospital and later released.
She was immediately placed on administrative leave with pay as the sheriff’s office and the S.C. Highway Patrol investigated the incident: this the standard protocol for serious deputy-involved collisions.
According to SCHP, dashcams are designed to activate when blue lights are activated or there is a collision.
Graziano reported that the dashcam video in Deputy Pelletier’s car didn’t reveal anything. “It was a blank screen,” she said. “We don’t know if that is because of damage during the collision or if there was some sort of malfunction.”
Pelletier is facing up to 10 years in prison for each count and a $15,000 fine.
This outcome is small consolation for family members as they deal with the loss of three vibrant women.
Just days after the crash, a vigil was held in Walterboro at Colleton County High School’s stadium by co-workers, religious leaders, sorority sisters, and friends who paid tribute to the family and honored the memory of three beloved women.
