Police say he choked a cop at Rock Hill park. Here’s how long he’ll be in prison.
A Rock Hill man was sentenced to 20 years in jail after he entered an Alford plea to aggravated assault and battery.
Darius Jermale Stewart, 31, was arrested Oct. 29 after Rock Hill youth sports game at Cherry Park when police say he choked and threatened to kill a police officer.
Rock Hill police officer Terry Nelson and other off-duty officers were working security at the park and attempted to break up a fight between two women, prosecutor Sharon Kopp said.
One of the women was Stewart’s girlfriend, said Stewart’s lawyer Montrio Belton.
Over a dozen Rock Hill police officers, including Nelson, were at Thursday’s sentencing hearing. Stewart pleaded to the charge in an Alford plea, essentially a guilty plea while still asserting innocence.
Kopp showed body camera video from the night of Oct. 29. She said Stewart punched Nelson, put him in a chokehold and said “I’m going to kill that (expletive)“ multiple times.
Belton told Judge William Seals that audio from the video could be interpreted to be police choking Stewart instead. He said someone near the fight yelled to officers: “He can’t breathe” and “Let him go.”
Body camera video also shows Stewart spitting on three officers during the arrest.
“He, out of nowhere, just decided to attack an officer from behind,” Kopp said. “That’s completely unacceptable. I think the officers showed great restraint where they could have used deadly physical force and they did not, they did their best to just get the defendant off of the officer.”
Amber Stewart, Stewart’s sister, told Seals and the court that Stewart’s three children look up to him.
“He’s a good brother, always has been,” she said. “Yes, we make some bad choices, but he’s a great person and his kids, they love him to death.”
Stewart’s sentence of 20 years was the maximum under the plea to assault, which Belton said he didn’t expect.
“The judge gave him the maximum amount of time that he was faced by and that’s sometimes how our system works,” Belton said. “The solicitor made a very passionate case.”
Stewart was convicted of assault and battery of a high and aggravated nature. His other charges of assault on an officer while resisting arrest and three counts of throwing bodily fluids were dropped by the state under his plea.
“It sends a message to the community, the state of South Carolina will not tolerate assault on our law enforcement officers,” Kopp said. “And assault on our law enforcement officers is an assault on our entire community and the safety of everyone.”
