By Teddy Kulmala
Aiken Standard
AIKEN, S.C.— An inmate released from the Aiken County detention center on Wednesday allegedly threw a rock through the door of a business across the street from the jail on Wednesday afternoon and waited for police to arrive.
Eroll Davis, 37, was charged with malicious injury to property and placed in the detention center. The incident happened about 1:15 p.m. at A-1 Bonding & Enterprises Inc., which is located directly across the street from the Doris C. Gravat Detention Center on Wire Road.
Maria Brooks, an employee of the bonding company, was inside at her desk when she saw Davis approach the front door.
“I go to get up, but he never comes in,” she said. “All we heard was this really loud sound that sounded like gunshots. We got down on the floor.”
The call came in to dispatch as shots fired. The suspect had actually thrown a large piece of asphalt through the glass door, police said.
Brooks said she and another female employee were the only ones in the office at the time. They called 911. She said she could see the suspect’s feet in the lobby through the crack under the door when he walked in.
“He comes in; he’s walking around; glass is falling on the floor,” Brooks said. “He grabs a chair and takes it outside and sits outside, waiting on the police.”
Brooks was still on the phone with 911 when Aiken County sheriff’s deputies arrived. The operator even told her officers could see a man sitting outside the entrance to the office.
Megan Doolittle, who also works at the bonding company, said Davis had just finished a jail sentence for another crime.
“He served his time, walks across over here and sees the first place,” she said. “He tells the cops, ‘I’m homeless, and I needed somewhere to go.’”
Davis was jailed on Oct. 4 for malicious injury to property and released on Wednesday, according to the detention center website. He has previous charges of assault and battery with intent to kill and possession of a stolen pistol on his record.
Doolittle said some residents who live around the jail are concerned about inmates who are released.
“Every day, they’re releasing people from this jail that have to walk 3 miles into town,” she said. “That’s a big concern for the community, especially people’s homes.”
Doolittle said that in Richmond County, where their company also does business, inmates aren’t released unless they have someone there to get them. Additionally, they have a shuttle that can take them to the bus station.
Aiken County does not have the same requirement, she said.
Copyright 2013 the Aiken Standard