WINNSBORO (Nov. 23, 2016) – Charges against a Columbia man who led the Highway Patrol on a high speed chase into Winnsboro on Nov. 12 have been upgraded after the passenger in the car into which he collided died.
Roosevelt Huff, 50, of Columbia now faces charges of reckless homicide, the Sheriff’s office said last week. The Highway Patrol has also charged Huff with two counts of failure to stop for blue lights – one count resulting in great bodily injury and one count resulting in death.
The chase began around 3:30 p.m. in Blackstock near the Chester County line on Nov. 12 when the S.C. Highway Patrol attempted to make a traffic stop on a 1995 Toyota Camry driven by Huff. Huff led the Highway Patrol to the intersection of Highway 34/200 and the 321 Bypass where he raced through a red light and struck a 2007 Nissan Altima. Both cars plummeted down the embankment on the western side of the road and burst into flames.
The passenger in the Altima, Rodney Henderson, 29, of Mickey Road, Jenkinsville, was immediately pulled to safety by Fairfield County Sheriff’s deputies. He was transported to Palmetto Richland Hospital with what were believed to have been non-life threatening injuries. At approximately 8:50 p.m. on Nov. 15, however, Henderson died from what Coroner Barkley Ramsey said were “complications from the accident.”
The driver of the Altima had been knocked unconscious in the collision. She was pulled from the crash just as the car became fully engulfed in flames. Her condition was upgraded from critical to stable last week.
Huff was arrested on Nov. 17.
