Jewelry stores in Ladson, SC

CHARLESTON, S.C. (WCSC) - Officials at the South Carolina Emergency Management Division are closely monitoring our state’s seismic activity.

Earlier this week, the Summerville and Ladson area experienced three earthquakes in a matter of hours.

Derrec Becker with the state’s Emergency Management Division says the last time we had three earthquakes in about seven hours was back in 2003. And while he says it’s a little unusual to get three in a row, it just proves how seismically active South Carolina is.

“Where these earthquakes occurred is centered sort of near where the largest earthquake ever recorded on the Eastern seaboard occurred, and that was back in August of 1886,” Becker says.

On August 31, 1886, a magnitude 7.3 earthquake hit Charleston. The initial shock lasted nearly one minute. It was felt over 2.5 million square miles from Chicago to Cuba.

“You felt a 3.2,” Becker says about the earthquake that occurred Monday night. “Imagine an earthquake that is exponentially greater than that. That’s what we experienced. That’s why we’re very cautious when we talk about earthquakes.”

SCEMD did a study and looked at what would happen if we got an earthquake of a similar magnitude of what we got in 1886. They found the following:

South Carolina normally experience 10-20 earthquakes a year, about two or three of which we can actually feel.

“We know that some people might be concerned seeing three right in a row is the building up to something major,” Becker says. “Unfortunately, we won’t know until we get a major earthquake and then we can say definitively ‘yes those were building up to this and those were foreshocks.’ If we don’t experience a major earthquake after this, or in the near future, it’s just normal background seismicity.”

Officials say they are about 50/50 the three earthquakes we experienced were just the Earth releasing pressure. We won’t know if it was building toward something greater for another six months to a year or even longer.

Click here to look through SCEMD’s Earthquake Guide which lists how to take cover and how to prepare for an earthquake.

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The S.C. Court of Appeals has unanimously affirmed a $600,000 award to a trucker injured by a S.C. Ports Authority crane operator, finding no evidence that the trucker breached a duty of care in an incident that left him with neck and back injuries.

Curtis Mills was offloading a cargo container on the Port Authority’s Wando Terminal in 2012, when he contends that the crane operator lifted and shook the container while it was still attached to the truck, separating them and dropping the truck several feet to the ground. Mills said that the crane operator left the scene after ignoring his attempts to flag him down.

The Ports Authority argued that a Charleston County jury’s verdict in Mills’ favor in 2018 shouldn’t stand because the trial court refused to charge comparative negligence and denied its motion for either a new trial absolute or a new trial nisi remittitur, and the award—reduced to the $300,000 statutory cap for damages against a government entity under the state’s Tort Claims Act—was excessive.

But in a Sept. 15 opinion, Chief Judge James Lockemy wrote that the Ports Authority had failed to present evidence supporting an inference of Mill's negligence.

“The trial court is required to charge only principles of law that apply to the issues raised in the pleadings and developed by the evidence in support of those issues,” Lockemy wrote, citing the state Supreme Court’s 2000 ruling in Clark v. Cantrell.

Mills had asserted that the crane operator noticed that the container was still attached to the chassis and truck but failed to alert him and safely lower the container and truck.

At trial, Mills testified that he had removed all four of the locking mechanisms, known as “pins,” on the shipping container when he checked in at the terminal’s gate and that nothing requires him to inspect the pins both at the gate and prior to the lift. Ports Authority employees confirmed that Mills removed the pins at the gate but said that they sometimes work their way back into place on the drive from the gate to the crane row.

The Ports Authority unsuccessfully moved for a directed verdict and then sought a comparative negligence charge, arguing that drivers are responsible for ensuring that all pins are disengaged, but Charleston County Circuit Court Judge Kristi Lea Harrington declined to make that charge.

In affirming the verdict and award, the appeals court found that while the crane operator’s testimony provided some evidence that Mills was partially at fault because he tried to free the truck by driving it forward while it was attached to the crane, the Ports Authority failed to argue the conflicting testimony regarding the cause of the incident or offer evidence of Mills’ potential fault. It argued only, the court found, that drivers are responsible for ensuring that containers are unhooked, at the gate and time of the lift.

“Because the Ports Authority did not raise this argument to the trial court in support of its request for a comparative negligence charge, we cannot conclude the trial court erred by declining to charge comparative negligence on this basis,” Lockemy wrote.

The court also rejected the Ports Authority’s argument that the trial court erred in refusing to grant a new trial absolute or a new trial nisi remittitur because the jury’s verdict was excessive and not supported by the evidence, noting the deference given to trial courts, which are more familiar with the evidentiary atmosphere and have a better-informed view of the damages.

“A new trial absolute should be granted only if the verdict is so grossly excessive that it shocks the conscience of the court and clearly indicates the amount of the verdict was the result of caprice, passion, prejudice, partiality, corruption or other improper motive,” Lockemy wrote, quoting Knoke v. S.C. Department of Parks, Recreation & Tourism, decided by the state’s Supreme Court in 1996.

The court has the power to reduce the verdict by granting a new trial nisi remittitur where it finds the verdict “merely excessive,” but found here evidence supporting the jury’s verdict and award.

Randell Stoney and John Fletcher of Barnwell Whaley Patterson & Helms and Randolph Lowell of Willoughby & Hoefer, both in Charleston, represented the Ports Authority. None of the attorneys immediately responded to a request for comment.

Mills was represented by Ladson Howell Jr. of Mount Pleasant, who said that he is “cautiously optimistic” that the decision will make the port a safer place.

“But I do not have any firsthand knowledge about whether the port has changed its policies with regard to ascertaining that safety pins have not jostled back into place or any additional safeguards to ensure that trucks don’t get lifted off the ground,” Howell said.

The 12-page decision is Mills v. South Carolina Ports Authority (Lawyers Weekly No. 011-079-21).

CHARLESTON, S.C. (WCSC) - Google is taking notice of a Lowcountry business. The tech giant chose a Ladson company to be part of a new mentoring program, designed to help startups around the nation grow their business.

This partnership all started because of a gallon of milk.

Marlon Brown is busy as he’s a working husband, father and grandfather. So it is not uncommon that he forgot his wife had asked him to pick up a gallon of milk one day after work.

But being a software engineer, his solution was anything but common.

“So, I get in the house and I say,’ You know what? I’m just going to write you an application to where you can attach the message you want to send me to the Walmart I’m going to pass on my way home and then when I pass the Walmart, then I’ll get the message,’” Brown said.

When Brown told his cousin Kendrick Pullen, who lives in Florida, about the app he had created the two formed a business partnership and Lifetagger was born.

“Now Lifetagger allows you to attach content into any signal your phone can detect,” Brown said. “Whether it’s wifi, geolocation, whether it’s beacons. We even do QR codes now so we’re about delivering content when and where it matters.”

The app also works by using sound.

“So Lifetagger can work like Shazam, we can listen to the room for a few seconds, tell what song is on, tell what movie’s playing, and so you can get content when you’re near an audio signal,” Brown said.

Their business pitch had already gained them some clients, but in looking for ways to grow their clientele, Pullen applied for the Google for Startups Founders Academy in January.

Just 50 companies from around the nation would be chosen to take part in the new mentoring program in March. Lifetagger is the only business from South Carolina.

“Me as the product guy, I’m a software engineer by trade so I write the code,” Brown said. “I’m getting enlightened about the sales and stuff. It’s an interesting journey.”

The six month program focuses on sales, marketing and funding and will wrap up in September.

Brown says one of the core values of Lifetagger is “try stuff.”

He says if you have an idea, don’t just let it be an idea, put it into action.

Copyright 2021 WCSC. All rights reserved.

LADSON, S.C. (WCIV) — Lots of rain and no solutions.

Homeowners in the Berkeley County neighborhood of College Parks Estates are looking for answers from county leaders.

“The people in College Park that live on this canal hasn't seen any relief from this,” said resident Marshall Harrison.

His neighbor, Ben Ramsey, said his home has fought a losing battle with heavy rain and flooding for more than 10 years.

“We've been flooded 10 times since 2008,” Ramsey said. “Some, just a little bit of water; some, up to 3-and-a-half-foot of water in the downstairs. Our downstairs is useless.”

Monday’s floodwaters turned the College Park Canal into a raging river.

On Tuesday, Berkeley County crews could be seen dealing with the aftermath left behind on neighborhood bridges, removing trash and debris to allow water to flow downstream.

“They put in these barriers that are supposed to catch all this debris,” Harrison said. “But problem with that is there’s nowhere for the water to flow at that time, and it backs it up farther.”

The WaterGoat was installed by the county to act as a trash-trap, collecting debris at an isolated location and preventing it to flow into harder to reach areas.

But when it comes to clearing out the apparatus, county councilman Tommy Newell said it should be a community effort.

“The volunteer fire department can assist; the county can assist but it has to be a community-type thing,” Newell said.

Newell said he is well-aware of the flooding issues within the neighborhood and said it’s an ongoing issue every time there is a thunderstorm.

He said the county has not sat idly by.

“The county can only do so much,” Newell said. “We have been doing stuff. I’ve asked administration to come up with a history of what we’ve done so we can give that to the public to show we are spending your tax money properly to fix this issue.”

He said the real issue at hand sits outside the county’s jurisdiction.

The Army Corps of Engineers has control over any wetlands dredging.

Currently, a study is underway to investigate current conditions in the neighborhood.

“Box culverts and pipes and other roads and stuff that need to be switched out because they’re 50 years old,” Newell said.

Until changes are made, Newell wants community members— especially those in College Park Estates— to know he is right there with them.

“I’m out there driving the flooded area, making sure people aren’t stranded, stuff like that; that’s what I was doing,” he said. “People say we’re not doing anything and that’s just not true.”

Newell says the results of the study are expected to be available within the coming month.

He encourages community members to volunteer to clear out the WaterGoat.

Volunteers can sign up by contacting Stormwater Program Manager Thurman Simmons at Thurman.simmons@berkeleycountysc.gov or call (843) 719-2691.

They can also contact Sarah McCarthy-Smith at sarah.smith@berkeleycountysc.gov or call (843) 719-2383.

DORCHESTER COUNTY, S.C. (WCSC) - A Ladson man is being accused by deputies of taking things too far after seeing a car speeding down a suburban Dorchester County road.

The Dorchester County Sheriff’s Office says that Dwayne Alan Thompson, 31, followed the vehicle on March 28 and then blocked it on Professor Drive, a dead-end street in the Eagle Run community. The car had teenagers inside.

Thompson surrendered on Tuesday to face two charges of breach of peace/aggravated in nature, according to the agency.

In a series of text messages, Thompson said in part that he was being a “concerned citizen” and “only followed them to get a license plate.” Thompson added that he “had no intention of engaging them until [they] almost hit the kids riding their bike and hoverboard.”

Home surveillance video from the neighborhood on the day of the incident shows two cars driving down Professor Drive. A bicyclist can then be seen moving to the center of the street while someone on a hoverboard is visible traveling along the side of the road.

A third car, which matches the one that Thompson is said to have been driving, subsequently emerges and an unknown individual can be heard screaming. This third vehicle then turns to the left and stalls in the middle of the street.

The mother of one of the juveniles inside the vehicle that was reportedly being pursued stated that the boys noticed that they were being followed into their neighborhood and did not know who was behind them. As a result, she explained that they did not want to turn down the street where they live and instead pulled down Professor Drive, another cul-de-sac nearby.

She noted that she was told by her son that Thompson used his car to block the way that the boys could exit the block. She says that she told the teenagers over the phone to leave the car and get away from the scene as soon as possible.

She added that when deputies from DCSO responded to Professor Drive, they issued the boys a warning for improper parking and Thompson was permitted to leave the block.

A $5,000 cash surety bond for both counts was set for Thompson after his arrest on Tuesday, according to DCSO.

“They are glad that the sheriff’s department has taken it seriously and they have had the opportunity to participate in the investigation,” said attorney John Hilliard who is representing the families of the teenagers. “They want to continue again to cooperate with the sheriff’s office.”

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