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Associated Press
ANDERSON--A man who was shot in the neck and head as he left a parole and probation office has filed a lawsuit claiming the state agency and agents were negligent and used excessive force.
Gary Thomas Hill, now being held at the Northside Correctional Institute for a probation violation, is suing the agents who shot him as well as the Department of Probation, Pardon and Parole Services.
The department was cleared in an investigation by the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division and the U.S. Department of Justice, agency spokesman Peter O'Boyle said.
Hill was unarmed and not under arrest in October 2001 when he ran from the office and got in his car after an agent told him he was facing a probation violation. Agents pursued him to the parking lot and tried to break the car windows. They testified in court that Hill's car nearly ran over one agent. The agents fired several times as Hill drove away.
"What Mr. Hill did was he simply panicked," his attorney, Suzanne Coe, said. "He was completely free to go. It's almost like they were trigger happy."
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