A South Carolina hunter who was arrested by game wardens during a 2024 sting operation in Greenville County is now suing the state’s Department of Natural Resources. The charge against the hunter, Shane Huffman, was dismissed due to insufficient evidence, and Huffman is now claiming in the lawsuit that he was falsely arrested and maliciously prosecuted.
That lawsuit is moving forward, according to one of Huffman’s attorneys, Lori Murray, who says it could eventually go to trial before a jury. But the two SCDNR game wardens involved are already under fire in the court of public opinion. This blowback is due to body cam footage from the arrest that was made public Saturday as part of an investigative report by Queen City News.
Breaking Down the Body Cam Footage
The video footage below gives a first-person perspective of the events that transpired on Nov. 15, 2024, when DNR officer Robert Thomas and DNR Lance Corporal Zach Tatum arrested Huffman for night hunting. Thomas had placed a deer decoy near the road to lure in spotlighters, and his body cam footage shows Huffman slowing down, backing up, and then stopping his truck on the roadway to look at the decoy before driving on down the road.
Hunter files lawsuit against SCDNR for wrongful arrest claim
The footage shows that Murray never used a spotlight or any other artificial light, which means he was not actually “night hunting” under the definition of the law. Huffman’s attorneys claim in the lawsuit that the game wardens misunderstood or misrepresented that law in their attempt to make what they thought was a “career” case against the hunter.
Before pulling Huffman over, and while calling Tatum for backup, Thomas acknowledges that Huffman hadn’t actually shined any lights on the decoy before driving off. He tells Tatum, however, that he is “going to stop him no matter what.”
Part of their excitement during the arrest seems to stem from the fact that Huffman, a known coyote hunter who does predator removals for landowners, had a loaded rifle and thermal imaging equipment in the backseat of his truck. Huffman explains that he’d just gotten out of the deer woods, which was why he had a loaded rifle, and that he was planning to hunt coyotes later that night using the thermal equipment.
The footage appears to show that Huffman never touched these items, or the rifle, while checking out the decoy — only the binoculars that were still in his lap when Thomas pulled him over. After he’s handcuffed, a compliant Huffman asks the officers about the legality of using binoculars at night.
“Obviously spotlighting is a big thing, but did I do anything wrong by stopping and using binoculars to look?” he asks.
“You can’t stop to look at a deer with a gun in the truck,” Thomas replies.
Not long after that exchange, while discussing how to impound Huffman’s truck, the two game wardens privately mention how the bust will help boost their careers as game wardens.
“This is like a once in a career stop,” Thomas says.
“This is great dude,” Tatum replies. “This is absolutely great.”
Establishing Probable Cause
The two officers’ eagerness to arrest Huffman without clear probable cause, along with their treatment of the hunter, are the most troubling aspects of the above footage, Murray says. She also points out that at multiple points during Huffman’s arrest, the game wardens either turned off or muted their body cams.
“The first time I took a look at this, I was floored. I’m watching them turn those body cams on and off, and I’m watching them admit that he didn’t shine a light. There’s absolutely no way they should have stopped him,” she tells Outdoor Life. “The icing on the cake, for me, is them saying this is a career-making case … There’s just so many things that get my blood boiling over this.”
Murray says that after watching the footage, she knew the charge wouldn’t hold up in court. She explains that the DNR insisted on pressing forward with the case until the prosecuting attorney dropped the charge, citing insufficient evidence.
Read Next: Game Wardens Can Surveil Private Land with Trail Cams. But That’s Now Being Challenged in Pennsylvania’s Supreme Court
“There’s just no probable cause,” Murray says. “I get that they have to defend their case, but I’ve even talked to other DNR officers, and I’ve talked to another prosecutor. And nobody sees probable cause except for the DNR.”
The agency’s chief legal counsel, Susan Porter, did not respond immediately to a request for comment about the pending lawsuit or the dismissed case. An SCDNR spokesperson said in an emailed statement to OL that the agency doesn’t comment on pending litigation.
“We note that recent reporting does not reflect the complete factual record, and we look forward to the judicial process, where all evidence will be properly presented and evaluated by a jury,” the spokesperson added. “We are confident the matter will be fully and fairly adjudicated in our South Carolina courts.”
Read the full article here
