A 42-year-old man shot by York County deputies during a chase near the North Carolina line last week is now facing formal charges from the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division. Jerry Wayne McFalls was charged Tuesday with resisting arrest with a deadly weapon and pointing and presenting a firearm at a person, stemming from the October 14 shooting that unfolded after deputies tried to help Clover police track down a wanted fugitive.
SLED announced the charges on Tuesday, October 20, saying McFalls is “the subject of the officer involved shooting that occurred on Wednesday, October 14, 2026 in York County,” according to a statement reported by einpresswire.com. The agency said McFalls now faces Resisting Arrest with a Deadly Weapon, 1st Offense, along with Pointing and Presenting a Firearm at a Person. McFalls was booked into the York County Detention Center, and the case will be prosecuted by the 16th Circuit Solicitor's Office, per the same report.
The chain of events began when York County deputies were assisting the Clover Police Department in locating a suspect with outstanding warrants who had fled from Clover officers earlier that day, according to heraldonline.com. The sheriff's office said the suspect did not comply with commands and struck a deputy's vehicle before speeding off, as reported by WBTV. That set off a pursuit that ended on Lloyd White Road, close to the South Carolina-North Carolina state line, where his vehicle left the road and came to a stop.
Gun Pointed at Deputies After Crash
Officials said the suspect pointed a gun at a deputy after getting out of his wrecked vehicle, and two deputies then opened fire, per WBTV's reporting on the incident. No deputies were hurt in the exchange, the Herald reported. The two deputies involved were placed on administrative leave, a standard step following officer-involved shootings in the county.
The York County Sheriff's Office asked SLED to conduct an independent investigation of the shooting, the station's report noted, a routine move for incidents involving deputy gunfire. As of Tuesday, SLED said its investigation “is active and ongoing at this time,” according to the einpresswire.com statement — meaning key details, including the full circumstances of the confrontation, have not yet been finalized.
Additional Charges and Fugitive Transfer
Beyond the SLED charges, McFalls was also charged with failure to stop for a blue light, leading a high-speed pursuit and second-degree harassment, attributed to Clover police by Queen City News. That outlet also reported that McFalls had bond set at $110,000 and was later released to the Gaston County Police Department on a fugitive warrant.
Under South Carolina law, pointing a loaded or unloaded firearm at another person is itself unlawful, according to the South Carolina Code of Laws. Separately, state law treats resisting a lawful arrest with a deadly weapon — or even the threat of one — as a felony, per the South Carolina Code of Laws. State statute also specifies that a driver cannot claim ignorance of flashing lights or sirens as an excuse to avoid stopping when road conditions would reasonably allow the driver to notice them.
Third Police Shooting in York County This Year
The October 14 shooting marked the third police shooting in York County so far in 2026, according to the Herald's reporting. York County's top prosecutor, Kevin Brackett, had previously ruled two earlier shootings this year were justified and in self-defense, the outlet noted.
The case echoes a separate September incident in Greenville County, where deputies exchanged gunfire with 42-year-old Walter Jason Smith after a traffic stop, according to WYFF. Smith was shot and arrested, and SLED later charged him with two counts of attempted murder along with weapons offenses; the injured deputy in that case was expected to make a full recovery, per WYFF. McFalls's case now joins a growing list of SLED reviews into officer-involved shootings across the state this year, with the agency's investigation into the York County incident still unresolved.
