‘Officers are people also:’ Rock Hill man sentenced in dragging of cop in car window
Just six weeks after a York County SWAT team member was killed on duty, a York County police officer was injured during a drug stop.
Fort Mill police officer Everett Atwell, who was thinking about Det. Mike Doty’s death during the incident, said Friday that he wasn’t sure he would make it home that night.
Atwell’s assailant was sentenced to 15 years in jail Friday morning.
Atwell was dragged 50 yards down the road while trapped in a car window March 1, according to Marvin Brown, commander of the York County Multijurisdictional Drug Enforcement Unit.
Bryan Leif Abel, 45, of Rock Hill, faces 15 years in prison for assault and battery of a high and aggravated nature and drug charges. Abel appeared before York County Judge Dan Hall Friday morning.
Abel was stopped March 1 by officers with the York County drug unit, after he crossed the center line while driving, according to the incident report.
When agents approached the vehicle, they said they noticed illegal drugs, and asked Abel to step out of the vehicle.
Abel then sped off with Atwell hung up in the window of the car, Brown said at the time.
“The officer was bruised up,” Brown said.
Atwell spoke in court Friday morning, and said the incident made him think about Doty’s death in January. Doty worked as a detective with the York County drug unit while also on the SWAT team. Doty was shot early Jan. 16 and died the next day. Three other officers were shot and injured in what police described as an ambush after officers responded to a domestic violence call near York.
“Less than two months prior, we had buried one of my friends and coworkers, investigator (Mike) Doty,” Atwell said. “It kind of hit home. I have a son, and I wasn’t so sure I was going to see him that night.”
Abel apologized to Atwell in a letter read aloud in court by his defense attorney, Twana Burris-Alcide.
“The person you encountered that night is not the person I am,” Abel wrote in the letter.
Abel’s mother, Janice Abel, said her son is a “good person” who struggles with drug addiction.
“It just hurts me so bad that he has this problem and he never got the help he needed,” she told Hall Friday.
Abel pleaded guilty to assault and battery, trafficking methamphetamine and possession of narcotics. Abel was sentenced to 15 years in prison, with credit for 261 days already served, along with a suspended sentence of 10 years prison and 5 years of probation.
“I’d just like for everybody to know that officers are people also and we have families,” Atwell said. “And we’re just trying to do our job.”
This story was originally published November 16, 2018 at 3:14 PM.