RCSD captain’s destiny from tragedy
March 11, 2020
By W. Thomas Smith Jr.
COLUMBIA, S.C. – On the morning of Feb. 21, 1974, Kershaw County Deputy Ernest Christian Potter III was shot and killed by hitchhiker Theodore Byrd on Interstate 20 near the town of Elgin. The previous night, Byrd, with two accomplices, slew 59-year-old Elmer Joyner. The following morning, hours before killing Potter, Byrd shot-to-death Forest Acres police officer Richey Finch. Byrd also seriously wounded Potter’s partner Kershaw County Deputy J.C. Tollison when he killed Potter.
Sheriff Lott, Capt. Potter, and Chief Deputy Wash James
Potter’s widow was three months pregnant with Potter’s son, Ernest Christian Potter IV, who today serves as a captain with the Richland County Sheriff’s Department (RCSD).
“As long as I could walk and talk and remember, I knew what I was going to do with my life,” Capt. Potter told WLTX-TV this week. Potter was going to follow in his late father’s footsteps and serve as a law enforcement officer.
Soon after his father’s death, Potter’s mother began working at the Kershaw County Sheriff’s Office (KCSO) as then-Sheriff Hector DeBruhl’s executive assistant. As a result, the younger Potter essentially grew-up in KCSO with Kershaw County deputies and other employees taking him under their wings.
“I can remember being five-years-old and learning how to serve warrants at the sheriff’s department knocking on the door of the bathroom,” he said.
In April 1997, Potter, then 22, was officially sworn as an RCSD deputy. He was one year younger than the age his father was when the elder Potter was killed.
Richland County Sheriff Leon Lott told WLTX: “Most of the people here [at RCSD] don’t know Chris’s story. He grew up and his desire was to be a deputy sheriff, follow in his dad’s footsteps, and he’s done that. He’s Chris Potter the person, not Chris Potter just the deputy sheriff. That’s what I hope people will see from this story.”
Capt. Potter says his boyhood path into his now-23-year law enforcement career (as of next month) has been a “long” and “bumpy” road. “But I am happy where I’m at and I’m thankful that I’m able to do this job because of it,” he said. “I feel like there’s always someone watching over me.”
See full story at WLTX-TV – https://tinyurl.com/uhjau6e.
