SC police officer charged with domestic assault and fighting officers in NC casino
A Gaffney police officer assaulted a woman, was disorderly in a North Carolina casino and fought police officers in a jail all in the same day, according to police reports.
On Jan. 22, Cherokee Indian Police Department near Swain County, North Carolina, charged Dillion Lee Haney with domestic assault, resisting arrest, malicious conduct by a prisoner, illegally carrying a concealed gun, carrying a gun while drunk and disorderly conduct.
Haney was a police officer with the Gaffney Police Department at the time of his arrest, his officer record shows. A spokesperson for the Gaffney Police Department said Haney was fired on Jan. 24. He is presumed innocent of the charges until proven guilty but after investigating his conduct while jailed, the Gaffney police chief fired Haney, the spokesperson said.
The sequence of the incidents that landed Haney in jail is unclear from police reports. But on Jan. 22, the police reports say that Haney was in Harrah’s Casino in Cherokee, North Carolina, with a loaded, concealed gun, which is illegal there. He drunkenly argued with police officer who confronted him in the casino, according to the reports. He “yelled and screamed,” used offensive language and resisted and assaulted the officers, the reports said.
The incident in the casino resulted in three misdemeanor charges.
Sometime on the same day, Haney assaulted a woman, whom the reports indicate is a relative, by pulling and holding her by her hair and hitting her in the face four times.
When Cherokee Indian Police Department officers showed up to investigate the reported domestic assault, Haney spit at one of the officers, the reports say.
The officers arrested Haney and took him to jail. At the jail, Haney again fought with the officers, the reports say. In one instance, he went to the ground and wrapped his legs around an officer in an attempt to trip the officer.
He was charged with two misdemeanors and a felony charge of malicious conduct by a prisoner.
Haney had been a police officer for about a little more than a year, his record shows. He began working with the Gaffney Police Department on Jan. 14, 2021.
He is set to appear at a court hearing in North Carolina on Feb. 22.
Contact information for an attorney for Haney could not be found.
In April, The State reported on the disturbing number of South Carolina police officers who were charged from 2010 to 2020 with violence against women. Most of those charges were domestic violence. On average, nine police officers a year are accused of violence against women in the state. Survivor advocates and police policy makers said that estimate is likely too low and doesn’t given an accurate picture of the amount of violence because victims don’t always report abuse, fearing further abuse.
Last year, South Carolina had a higher than usual number of police officers charged with violence against women.
