Chester Co. family has questions after man dies following police chase

CHESTER COUNTY, S.C. — Questions surround a police chase in South Carolina that ended with one man dead near the town of Chester.

The shooting happened Friday morning at 968 Shallowbrook Drive.

The Chester County coroner said Maurice Andrapolious Jeter, 25, died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. Deputies told Channel 9 they chased Jeter after he took off during a traffic stop on Saluda Road near JA Cochran Bypass.

The family of Jeter said he drove into the driveway shortly after midnight and ran into that shed on the property.

"We got woke up to what sounded like firecrackers," said Tonya Ehlinger.

When she went outside, she said patrol cars were parked across her front yard and officers were pointing their weapons at the small shed. Inside, her boyfriend, Jeter, was found dead.

She can't believe he's gone.

"(He was) wonderful. It's like I told everyone, he'd give you anything. If it was his last shirt, he'd give it to you," she said.

Ehlinger showed Channel 9 one bullet hole after another in the wood and rails around the shed Friday afternoon with evidence markers nearby.

Friend Stephanie Keenan finds it hard to believe Jeter took his own life. She said she had talked to Jeter just a few hours before his death.

"He asked me how I liked my new job and how I was liking it and everything. He was fine and I'd never think he'd do something like that," Kennan said.

Jeter does have a criminal record including guilty pleas for assault and battery and resisting arrest. Investigators are releasing few details about the case. They will not say whether officers fired their weapons.

Ehlinger showed the damage to the SUV Jeter was driving and counted the more than a half dozen rounds that hit the shed where he died.

"Me, his whole family, my whole family, we all have questions," she said.

One deputy has been placed on administrative leave while state investigators look into Jeter's death.

The deputy's name has not been released, but he's been with the sheriff's office since January of this year.

WSOC