Spartanburg County Deputy Out Of Jail; Charged With Domestic Violence

‪‪A Spartanburg County deputy has been arrested, accused of threatening to hurt his wife.

35 year old Jeff Strickland was arrested on his way home to Union Friday afternoon. Strickland, who has worked at the Sheriff’s Office for over a decade, is charged with criminal domestic violence.

An incident report says he made his wife “fear for her life and the safety of her family.” The wife of 35 year old Jeffrey Strickland told deputies her husband, a long-time Spartanburg County Sheriff's deputy, threatened to hurt her for several months.  

Spartanburg County Sheriff Chuck Wright says, “We don't like these things to happen to every ‘Joe-citizen’, but especially one of our guys.” 

Late Friday night, Spartanburg County Sheriff's Office spokesman Craig Bradley said that Strickland has been placed on unpaid adminsitrative leave pending the outcome of his court case on the charge of  domestic violence.

“I will tell him like I tell everyone else," Wright said at the press conference held Friday afternoon. "We don't tolerate that.” 

The sheriff says long before the arrest, the job had affected Strickland.

Last January, a man accused of robbing a gas station led Strickland and deputies on a chase. Sheriff Wright says the man pulled a gun on deputies, and Strickland was one of the officers that shot and killed the suspect. He was cleared of any wrongdoing.

But less than a month later, there was another violent encounter. Wright describes, “Guy went over and grabbed the gun. He had an ankle holster and stuck the gun to his throat…pulled the hammer back and said you about to die.”  

Sheriff Wright says he doesn't know if violence on the job led to threats of violence at home, but he says it's possible. 

Wright says, “We are 9-1-1, and we see a lot of things we don't wanna see and we do take those home sometimes.” 

He says he's not making excuses for Strickland. He is looking at what can be done to help deputies deal with stress on the job. He says, “I can promise you we're going to have conversations to make sure that we didn't miss some key signs we may have needed to take care of, but I really don't think we have.” 

Sheriff Wright says his officers get free counseling if they ask for it. He says Strickland had been getting professional help. And he had been off road patrol since the last violent encounter with a suspect over a year ago.

Strickland was released from the Union County Jail on $2,100 bond.

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