6-21-2014 South Carolina:Police had gone to a Little River home on Thursday to arrest a man wanted on a sexual assault charge when an Horry County police officer fatally shot the suspect, according to reports released Friday.
But as William Lee Workman Jr.’s family made his funeral plans Friday, they still had plenty of questions about what led to the 32-year-old’s death.
A police report filed earlier this month accused Workman of sexual assault with a 19-year-old woman.
Authorities have released few other details about the shooting, which happened about 10:30 a.m. Thursday at Workman’s home, 4365 Bayberry Drive in the Little River area. They have not identified or released information about the officer, who was involved in the shooting.
Horry County police Lt. Robert Kegler said the officer involved is on paid administrative leave, which is protocol in such incidents. He referred other inquires to the State Law Enforcement Division, which investigates all incidents when a police officer fires a weapon during their duties.
“I don’t know if he had a gun on him or not,” said William Workman Sr., Workman Jr.’s father, who arrived Friday morning from the family’s home near Augusta Ga. “We can’t get anything from SLED. All I want is to know what happened. If she’s in the wrong they’ve got to deal with her.”
SLED spokesman Thom Berry said information of their investigation likely would not be released until agents complete their investigation.
In the report about the shooting, an officer said that when he arrived, the younger Workman was on the floor in the doorway of the home and was being treated by EMS and firefighters, who took him to Grand Strand Regional Medical Center where he was pronounced dead.
A woman and some children were inside the home at the time of the shooting and officers escorted them out the rear of the home and away from the scene before it was secured for investigators, according to the report.
The elder Workman said Friday that his son’s stepdaughter was inside the house at the time of the shooting. He said he was told two police detectives were at the door and had Workman on the floor either handcuffed or attempting to handcuff him when the shooting happened.
In a separate police report filed June 11, Horry County police were told by a 19-year-old woman that she met the younger Workman, who identified himself as Lee Workman, through Craigslist a month before. The woman said she and Workman had spent the day riding a jet ski on the Intracoastal Waterway after they met at a boat landing along Morgan Avenue.
The woman said on the way back to the landing, Workman stopped the Jet Ski because it was “running weird” and she stood up so he could open the engine compartment, according to the report. The woman said Workman inappropriately touched her and she was unable to get away after she told him to stop.
The woman told police that “afterwards [Workman] told her again he was sorry” and he offered to take her to get a body piercing if she would forget about what happened, according to the report. The woman said she wanted to press charges against Workman.
In the arrest affidavit, officers wrote during their investigation they learned Workman was a registered sex offender. A check of the Horry County Sheriff’s Office sex offender registry did not list Workman, and Horry County’s Public Index did not list any such charges filed against him.
Workman lived at the home where the shooting occurred with his common law wife, Carlotta Motsinger, who owns the home, according to court records. The couple began living together in 2007 and exchanged rings during a private ceremony in November that year at a local restaurant, according to the court filing.
Motsinger has two children from a previous relationship, including Jeff Motsinger, who posted on Facebook about Workman’s death.
“To Will: I know we have lost you so early in this life, but I know you look down on us from heaven cracking jokes and being the crazy guy you are. Please know that although you are gone you will never be forgotten and you will forever be on our hearts. Please RIP Will Workman,” Jeff Motsinger wrote.
William Workman Sr. said with a weary voice that he will cherish the memories he has of annual visits from his son in October for the elder Workman’s birthday, when they would fish or search for shrimp.
“We don’t know what to do or what happened,” the elder Workman said. “I wish someone would tell us something.” ..Source.. by TONYA ROOT
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