Yellow police tape marks off a crime scene.
FLORENCE, S.C. – A federal lawsuit alleges a “good ole boy” network in South Carolina allowed a murderer to go free following a high-speed chase and shootout between two drivers.
One of those drivers, Scott Spivey, was left dead on Sept. 9, 2023. Court records in a related case say Spivey passed Weldon Boyd on the right side of the road while pointing a gun, sending Boyd on a mission of revenge that featured speeds of up to 100 mph and a 911 call during which Boyd told a dispatcher, “If he keeps this up I am going to put him down.”
A Sept. 8 lawsuit by Spivey’s sister Jennifer says law-enforcement officials coached Boyd after he shot Spivey when the cars finally stopped, and Boyd never faced criminal charges.
“As additional officers arrived and more phone calls and text messages were exchanged, the defendants continued to conspire together, through words, actions, silence, and the ‘good ole boy culture’ and formulated and continued a plan to protect Boyd from civil liability to the Plaintiff for the wrongful death of Spivey and any survival action of the Estate,” the lawsuit says.
The chase took place on Route 9 in Horry County. Boyd was driving with friend Bradley Williams when they were passed by Spivey and took off after him, even straying from their intended route to follow Spivey onto Camp Swamp Road.
There, Spivey yelled for Boyd to stop following him, according to an eyewitness. Spivey exited his truck with his gun pointed at the ground while Boyd aimed his firearm through his windshield, the witness said.
Spivey turned back toward his truck and slightly raised his arm, and Boyd responded by shooting his entire clip at Spivey, the witness said. An audio forensics expert who studied the 911 recording determined Boyd shot first.
This account is taken from a wrongful-death case in Horry County against Boyd and Williams that has been pending since 2024. The new federal lawsuit focuses on what happened next.
Boyd called Brandon Strickland, a personal friend who frequented Boyd’s restaurant and was the deputy chief of the Horry County Police Department, the suit says. Strickland is alleged to have begun calling others to make sure the “right” officers responded to the scene and were to follow a self-defense narrative.
Officer Damon Vescovi allegedly discussed the situation with Boyd’s attorney over the phone and then helped Boyd, who was talking incessantly with witnesses and officers, the suit says.
“Vescovi went to his patrol vehicle, retrieved a notepad, and wrote a note that he held up so Boyd and Williams could read it,” the suit says.
“After verifying whether or not (Kerry) Higgs’ body-worn camera was on and sending Higgs in a direction away from Boyd and Williams so his camera and microphone would not record what was about to happen and repositioning his camera to a position he thought would not record what was written on the note, Vescovi held the note up so Boyd and Williams could read it. The note read, ‘Act like a victim. Camera.’”
Vescovi is accused of allowing Boyd’s attorney access to the scene. Officer Doug Dishon had others turn off their body cameras, the suit says. Spivey’s vehicle was towed with the body still in it and transported to a private facility “where planting and manipulating evidence would be undetectable, including placing a bottle of steroid pills in a compartment in Spivey’s truck that was conveniently accessible through the shattered back glass which was not covered, without having to disturb the crime scene tape securing the doors,” the suit says.
This was done to portray Spivey as the aggressor, though a blood test showed no steroids in his system, the suit says.
In the wrongful death lawsuit, Judge Eugene Griffith Jr. in March refused to grant Boyd immunity under a stand-your-ground law. Griffith wrote that Boyd, who had downloaded an app to automatically record his phone calls, seemed to celebrate the shooting in the days after.
“He just ran me off the road and aimed a gun at (Williams’) head, and I was like f--- this guy, and I chased him,” he told his mother. “Oh, I was on his ass, and his truck couldn’t outrun my truck and he knew it. So yeah, he was terrified.”
Statements like that establish Boyd was an “aggressor who initiated and maintained the pursuit,” Griffith wrote.
