Latest news with #Prock
Yahoo
3 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
‘Make the kids look bad': Mom of Ocean Boulevard shooting victim, civil rights advocate want more answers about what happened
MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. (WBTW) — The mother of a victim in April's officer-involved shooting on Ocean Boulevard and a civil rights leader say they are not satisfied with the Myrtle Beach Police Department's briefing and dashcam footage of the incident released on Thursday. Myrtle Beach Police Chief Amy Prock said in a recorded briefing Thursday afternoon that Officer Brandon O'Rourke shot and killed 18-year-old Jerrius Davis of Bennettsville, after Davis shot into a crowd on the boulevard on April 26. O'Rourke and two other officers who witnessed the shooting are all back at work after being on paid leave during the investigation. Eleven people were hurt in the shooting. Kendra Malloy, the mother of Serenity Chavis, who was one of the victims, said the dashcam footage that shows Davis shooting into a crowd and officers returning fire as he runs away is 'weak.' Malloy said she wants to see officers' body camera footage of the incident because the dashcam footage does not show the whole story. John Barnett, a civil-rights activist, said the footage released Thursday does not give the victims or their families any closure or justice. 'We want to know: Who are all the victims on April 26?' Barnett said. 'What are you all doing to resolve this issue? What are you doing to put a Band-Aid on this open wound? What are you doing in reference to counseling? What are you doing in reference to the investigation? Releasing excerpts of videos is just not enough.' Malloy and Barnett also said they do not think an incident at September football game in Laurinburg led to the shooting, like Prock said Thursday in the YouTube video released by the department. The Scotland County School district said Friday officers there were not aware of any incident during a game against neighboring Marlboro County. In the video, Prock said many events led up to the shooting, begnning with a 'heated exchange' during the football game. 'It's to, kind of, make the kids look bad,' Malloy said. 'There's no relation to a last year incident that has nothing to do with kids having a good time at Myrtle Beach.' Barnett also pushed back against police. 'They wanted to make sure that they get the heat off of the officers,' Barnett said. 'It's imperative we create a narrative that the police was not fully responsible for the shootings that happened on April 26.' Prock said three people have been arrested so far, including two juveniles, in the events connected to the Ocean Blvd shooting. She also said the 11 shooting victims, ages 13 to 43, had gunshot-related injuries and have all been released from the hospital. However, Barnett said the three victims he has spoken to are still in physical pain, still need counseling, and still need their voices heard. 'Treat our 11 victims of the April 26 shooting as if they were Hunter Biden, as if they were Donald Trump's children, as if they were someone who we all know and love,' he said. Barnett hopes to meet with Prock and Myrtle Beach Mayor Brenda Bethune next week. For a timeline of the events authorities say led up to the boulevard shooting and to listen to Chief Prock's full statement, click here. * * * Skylar Musick is a multimedia journalist at News13. Skylar is originally from Long Island, New York. She joined the News13 team in June 2024 after graduating from Villanova University in May 2024. Follow Skylar on X, formerly Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram, and read more of her work here. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
22-05-2025
- Yahoo
4 masked people fire at Myrtle Beach officers in high-speed chase through city
Four people were detained Thursday morning after firing a gun at Myrtle Beach Police officers and leading police on a high-speed chase in a stolen vehicle. Roads closed on Farrow Parkway in Myrtle Beach and the area of 67th Avenue North off of Highway 17 North. An officer on the scene of the accident on 67th Avenue North said that one person was injured in the crash and was taken to the hospital. The people in the vehicle fired at officers on Farrow Parkway in Myrtle Beach, the officer said. The vehicle appears to have been stolen from North Carolina. Myrtle Beach Police officers attempted to approach a vehicle about 8:15 a.m. with four occupants, all who were wearing masks, MBPD Chief Amy Prock said in a Facebook post. When officers attempted to stop the car, the car fled and officers were shot at while in pursuit, Prock added. Prock said in the video that the chase began on South Ocean Boulevard near the Twilight Surf motel. Myrtle Beach Police Department requested assistance from HCPD about 8:30 a.m. May 22 to pursue a suspect driving a stolen vehicle, according to an Horry County Police Facebook post. Prior to HCPD becoming involved in the pursuit, the suspect was seen driving the wrong way in traffic and driving at excessive speeds, the post said. Police vehicles had Farrow Parkway at the Coventry intersection in Market Common blocked off Thursday morning. The county's involvement in the pursuit ultimately ended when the suspect vehicle wrecked near 67th Avenue North and North US Highway 17. No one was injured in the incident and there is no threat to the community, the HCPD Facebook post added. The names of those detained were not released. This is a developing story. Check back for updates.
Yahoo
01-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
‘You've been lied to': Former Myrtle Beach mayor rips city's public response to Ocean Boulevard shooting
MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. (WBTW) — Former two-term Myrtle Beach mayor Mark McBride on Wednesday said the city's police chief and top elected official should both be removed for their botched public response to an Ocean Boulevard shooting. 'I thank the officers for responding. It's never been about the rank-and-file. They've always done their job. They've always gone over and above. It's always been a management issue in City Hall,' McBride said in a five-minute post to his Facebook page criticizing Mayor Brenda Bethune and police chief Amy Prock. McBride served as mayor from 1998 through 2006, after that launching unsuccessful bids for the General Assembly and Congress. Prock said Wednesday one person remains in critical condition and 10 others between the ages of 13 and 43 sustained gunshot-related injuries as a result of the Saturday night confrontation that left 18-year-old Jerrius Davis dead in an officer-involved shooting. McBride said Wednesday that 12 people were shot and transported to a local hospital. The city is allocated for 272 officers but currently has 50 openings headed into peak tourism season. Prock said 'conditional offers' have been made to 17 people. 'We have an active recruiting unit,' she said, adding that the agency partners with surrounding ones for coverage. 'As your chief of police, I am here to assure you that as long as you are here in our city, so are we,' Prock said. 'Standing here every day, every night. We will preserve the peace.' McBride questioned how that's possible with a 20% vacancy rate across Prock's department. 'When you have 20% vacancy, you can't fill your department. That's why you have to go to surrounding cities and the county and everybody else to do the job,' he said. Bethune also refuted claims that the city is unsafe, rejecting the 'Murder Beach' moniker that some have attached to it over the years. 'Quite honestly, it disgusts me,' she said of the nickname. 'That's not who we are. When you look at the millions upon millions of people that come here and you look at the real statistics, you will find out we are a very safe place.' McBride in 2017 drew both criticism and opposition after suggesting the reallocation of tourism tax dollars from the Myrtle Beach Area Chamber of Commerce to city coffers that would help pay for public safety. McBride, who currently lives in Oconee County, said Wednesday that city leaders should hold a closed-door meeting to review Prock's performance and then part ways with her. 'You've been lied to by the mayor of the city of Myrtle Beach. Mayor Bethune needs to resign, and Chief Prock needs to be replaced,' he said. * * * Adam Benson joined the News13 digital team in January 2024. He is a veteran South Carolina reporter with previous stops at the Greenwood Index-Journal, Post & Courier and The Sun News in Myrtle Beach. Adam is a Boston native and University of Utah graduate. Follow Adam on X, formerly Twitter, at @AdamNewshound12. See more of his work here. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
02-04-2025
- Yahoo
Myrtle Beach police see 50% decrease in crime over past 10 years
MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. (WBTW) — The Myrtle Beach Police Department presented their 2024 year in review on Tuesday in front of the city council. Some of the accomplishments include decreased calls for service and intelligence-led strategies to prevent and reduce crime. Chief Amy Prock shared that certain crimes they regularly respond to have decreased nearly 50% since 2015. The crimes that decreased over the past 10 years are homicides, burglaries, and aggravated assaults. Prock says the addition of 248 new city cameras, expanded neighborhood teams, and innovative technology like the ShotSpotter all contribute to the decrease in incidents. In 2015, the department responded to 4,909 incidents, and in 2024 that number dropped to 2,578 — which is a 47.48% decrease. 'This path is laid and our foot is on the gas, I will tell you that,' Prock said. 'I look at my team and I look at our community. We work together. We may not always get along, and we may not always agree. But I will tell you this — we work hard and we work together and we find a way to make a difference.' While those statistics provided by the city is certainly good news for Myrtle Beach, the most recent statistics available from the state paint something different. The South Carolina Law Enforcement Division's 2023 stats for the violent crime rate of about 49 crimes per 1,000 residents was still higher than both the state and national averages. * * * Gracie is a multimedia journalist at News 13 and is from Cleveland, Ohio. Gracie joined the team in June 2023 after graduating from the University of Alabama in May. Follow Gracie on Facebook, Instagram and X, formerly Twitter, & read more of her work here. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
09-02-2025
- Automotive
- Yahoo
Inspired NHRA Legend John Force Says He 'Feels Alive Again'
Ron Capps might have spoiled Austin Prock's otherwise-perfect week Saturday, defeating the current NHRA Funny Car champion in the final round of second annual PRO Superstar Shootout at Florida's Bradenton Motorsports Park. But Prock's boss, John Force, was giddy—not for Capps' victory but for his energized cross-country trip from California. It was Force's longest outing since his June 23 accident last season at the Virginia Nationals near Richmond has left him sidelined with what was diagnosed as a traumatic brain injury. But he was on hand for the preseason exhibition to watch Prock top predecessor Robert Hight's official, NHRA-recognized class-best elapsed time by two-thousandths of a second, at 3.791 seconds during qualifying. He was there to cheer on his own substitute, Jack Beckman, who last February was the live-stream analyst at the inaugural PRO Superstar Shootout. And he watched daughter Brittany make what she called "some killer and consistent passes' in testing her Top Fuel dragster, qualify No. 3, and take out Doug Kalitta to declare that her team is "way ahead of ourselves from where we were last season." It all made John Force declare, "To tell you the truth, this is the first time since Richmond I really felt alive again. We didn't win, but I was excited just to be where I need to be, running my teams and supporting Cornwell, PEAK, Monster, and all our other partners. I can't wait to get to Gainesville [for the March 7-9 season-starting Gatornationals]. "My wife, Laurie, told me I needed to get back in the game,' the 157-time winner and 16-time champion said. 'And being here in Bradenton was just good for my heart. Watching everybody work, watching the cars and the teams, and seeing old friends like Capps, it was just special."
