Global Courant
A South Carolina police station is memorializing one of its officers after a traffic stop led to the rescue of a woman who was allegedly forced to chase a shooting suspect away from a crime scene.
In a Facebook post for “Way To Go Wednesday,” the North Myrtle Beach Police Department acknowledged Officer Wallace for her actions while patrolling U.S. Highway 17 in North Myrtle Beach during the early morning hours of May 28.
At about 5:30 a.m. that Sunday, Wallace executed a traffic stop on a white jeep that ran a red light at a highway intersection.
While talking to the people in the car, Wallace commented that the woman driving the jeep “seemed upset,” and when the man in the passenger seat didn’t look her way, she silently shouted “help me” to Wallace several times .
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North Myrtle Beach Officer Wallace has been praised after her “proactive” patrols led to the rescue of a kidnapped getaway driver and a man wanted in connection with a shooting. (North Myrtle Beach Police/Facebook)
The officer overheard the woman’s message and removed the man from the car and placed him in the back seat of her patrol car.
Wallace then went back to the Jeep and spoke to the woman, who “frantically” told her that the man had just shot someone.
Shortly thereafter, dispatch posted a BOLO (Be On the Lookout) alert over the radio for a car involved in a shooting outside The Waterway House, a restaurant in the Myrtle Beach area.
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The man, later identified as 29-year-old Collins Bates, was arrested in connection with the shooting, according to WMBF. North Myrtle Beach police said an illegally carried handgun was retrieved from under his seat.
Collins Bates, 29, faces multiple charges, including kidnapping and attempted murder, in connection with a shooting outside The Waterway House in the Myrtle Beach area on May 28, 2023. (J. Reuben Long Detention Center)
A Horry County police report obtained by WMBF revealed that Bates allegedly shot someone in the stomach outside the restaurant before forcing the woman in the jeep to chase him from the scene.
The same police report stated that the gun found in the car matched the caliber of shell casing found at the scene of the shooting, WMBF reported.
Bates is in J. Reuben Long Detention Center facing multiple charges, including attempted murder and kidnapping. He is being held without bond.
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The department praised Wallace for “proactively patrolling” the city streets “even to the last 30 minutes of her shift.”
“Our department and our community are fortunate to have Officer Wallace,” the North Myrtle Beach Police Department wrote. “Good job!”
