Orangeburg

Orangeburg photographer Cecil Williams has captured thousands of images of African Americans' fight for equal rights over decades and is now set to unveil a wall art series that depicts their history in the state. It is a story which he hopes will reach middle and high schools.

A shuttered bowling alley at the center of a 1968 integration protest where state police killed three Black students is being remade into a civil rights center. State troopers shot into a crowd of students on the historically Black campus of South Carolina State University almost 54 years ago. Protesters were trying to pressure the white owner of the All-Star Bowling Lanes into letting Black patrons use the lanes. The National Park Service is helping a non-profit group renovate the All-Star Bowling Lanes, remaking it into a fully-functional bowling alley with a civil rights theme. Tuesday marks the official anniversary of the shootings.

A South Carolina representative being drawn into a district with another House member is trying to convince the city of Orangeburg to join a lawsuit over the new redistricting maps. Democratic Rep. Jerry Govan told Orangeburg City Council last week that the House maps signed into law last month unfairly split the city and will lose cause it to lose political power. The plan puts most of Orangeburg's city limits into a district currently represented by Democratic Rep. Justin Bamberg who lives in neighboring Bamberg County. City officials says they will consider joining a federal lawsuit over the state House districts already filed by two civil rights groups.

Monsherrie Brown considers herself a walking miracle after surviving a near-fatal struggle with COVID-19. She says the medical personnel at Orangeburg's Regional Medical Center saved her.

A South Carolina city is paying $650,000 to a Black man who was stomped in the head by a police officer upset that the man couldn't quickly lie flat on his stomach because of rods and pins in his leg. Orangeburg officials also have apologized to 58-year-old Clarence Gailyard and are reviewing police policies. Gailyard was walking with a stick wrapped in shiny tape in July when someone mistook the reflective object for a gun and called 911. Investigators say officer David Lance Dukes ordered Gailyard to the ground and stomped on his head and neck when he didn't immediately drop. Dukes was fired and charged with first-degree assault and battery.

A South Carolina man who was stomped in the head last week by a police officer says he is thankful for body camera footage. Clarence Gailyard says he is also happy for a second officer who immediately stepped up and said her colleague was not telling the truth. Gailyard's lawyer showed body camera footage of the July 26 incident to reporters on Tuesday. Orangeburg Public Safety Department Officer David Lance Dukes was fired two days after the incident and charged with felony first-degree assault and battery a few days after that.

Authorities say a police officer in Orangeburg has been fired and arrested after stomping the head of a man who was on his hands and knees causing his head to hit concrete. The State Law Enforcement Division says 38-year-old Orangeburg Department of Public Safety Officer David Lance Dukes is charged with first-degree assault and battery in the attack on July 26.