COLUMBIA, S.C. – An SC Department of Public Safety officer with the State Transport Police was involved in a collision today in Greenville County in which a motorist died.  

Cpl. Joseph Hand, STP Region Three/Greenville, was conducting a routine traffic stop of a commercial motor vehicle on Pleasantburg Drive in Greenville County around 12:15 p.m. today. Another motorist was traveling on Pleasantburg Drive when he struck the STP officer’s vehicle. Cpl. Hand was inside the vehicle at the time of the collision. He was injured and transported to Prisma Health Greenville where he is in stable condition with non-life-threatening injuries. The commercial motor vehicle driver (who Hand had stopped) was struck and killed by an unrelated vehicle as a result of the initial collision.

The driver of the vehicle that struck Cpl. Hand’s vehicle fled the scene but was taken into custody by the SC Highway Patrol. The Greenville County Sheriff’s Office is handling the investigation. Please contact the Greenville County Sheriff’s Office for details of the collision and charges and the Greenville County Coroner’s Office for details regarding the deceased victim in the collision.

Hand is a 21-year veteran of the State Transport Police.

The South Carolina Department of Public Safety includes the Highway Patrol, State Transport Police, Bureau of Protective Services, Office of Highway Safety and Justice Programs, Immigration Enforcement Unit and the South Carolina Law Enforcement Officers Hall of Fame. Our mission is to ensure public safety by protecting and serving the people of South Carolina and its visitors.