Police dog stopped York Co. man in shooting, kidnap and SC/NC chase, prosecutors say
A York County man accused of kidnapping a neighbor before leading police in both Carolinas on a high-speed chase after he shot a man will remain jailed without bond, a judge ruled.
It was a police dog that finally caught Robert Lee Beverly, prosecutors said Tuesday in court.
York County Circuit Judge Bill McKinnon said in court that Beverly, 31, is a danger to the community and a flight risk if released before trial. Beverly was out on bond for indecent exposure and other charges before the shooting, kidnap and chase in April 2018.
Beverly is charged with two counts of attempted murder, kidnapping, discharging a gun into a dwelling, possession of a firearm during a violent crime and failure to stop for a blue light. He faces more than 90 years in prison if convicted of all charges.
“He attempted to evade the police, in a chase out of state,” McKinnon said. “He’s a danger to the public. There is evidence he opened fire against a person he never met and held a woman against her will.”
Beverly, a convicted felon who spent four years in prison before his 2017 release, has been in jail without bond since he was caught April 18 after a chase that lasted several hours. He has a South Carolina criminal conviction record dating back more than a decade, prosecutors said.
York County Sheriff’s Office deputies responded to Payne being shot near Clover on April 18, 2018, said Sharon Ohayon, 16th Circuit assistant solicitor. Beverly knocked on the door, opened fire into the home, then fled, Ohayon said. Beverly then drove off with a neighbor in her car during a police pursuit that went from South Carolina into Gaston County, N.C., Ohayon said.
“He refused to let her go,” Ohayon said of the neighbor whom Beverly is charged with kidnapping.
Beverly was only caught in Gastonia, N.C., after a manhunt that included a police K-9 dog that chased and bit Beverly to stop him, Ohayon said.
“The dog ended up catching him and finding him,” Ohayon said. “A dog had to be the one, essentially, to take him down. Otherwise, he would have continued fleeing.”
Beverly did not speak in court but his lawyer said Beverly wanted to get out on bond to see a baby daughter born while he’s been in custody. Beverly also had a gunshot wound when he was arrested, his lawyer Jessica Russo of the 16th Circuit Public Defender’s Office said.
“The facts in this case remain in dispute,” Russo said in court.
The shooting victim, Daniel Payne, said in court Tuesday that he was close to death but had never met Beverly when he was shot in the abdomen.
“I about died from it,” Payne said in court.
No trial date for Beverly has been set.
