Richland County report reveals obvious mental health issues in woman who drove into Broad River

COLUMBIA, SC (WIS) – An incident report from the Richland County Sheriff's Department (RCSD) concerns a woman who police say died Wednesday when she drove her car into a river and had obvious mental health issues that family and neighbors say were not adequately addressed.

In an initial press release from the RCSD, they said they were called to a domestic call on Longcreek Drive, where they followed 23-year-old Tierra Hamer until she turned off the dead end of Omarest Drive into the Broad River.

However, according to the report, Hamer had contact with the police the day before she was last seen.

The incident report, which WIS received on Thursday, provides important new details about the cause of the Hamers' deaths.

When the sheriff's department responded to a disturbance call from Hamer's apartment complex on Longcreek Drive on Wednesday, deputies encountered Hamer, her sister and another man whose name was redacted from the report.

The two sisters accused the man, whom Hamer's mother Shanequa Scott described as an ex-boyfriend, of damaging Hamer's Nissan.

Neighbors told WIS that Hamer was in distress.

“I was sitting on the edge of the bed this morning and thought, 'God, should I have gone down and tried to calm her down myself?'” said Helen Dow, who lives above Hamer's apartment.

When officers first came to the apartment on Wednesday, they did not arrest anyone.

The RCSD incident report states that Hamer then became “angry” and said she wanted to hurt herself.

“She was so angry because he was wrecking her car and she was yelling at him to stop,” Dow said, holding back her tears.

Dow, a former social worker, could hear most of the screaming from her apartment Wednesday and said Hamer screamed for help several times.

“She kept screaming it,” she said.

After saying these things, Hamer was approached by officers who told them she was fine and drove away, the incident report states.

The officers then began to pursue them. A supervisor ordered the officers to stop the pursuit and they complied, the report said.

Shortly afterwards, according to the accident report, a second emergency call was received by the police from a gas station on Longcreek Drive. There, Hamer's ex-boyfriend stated that he had been hit by Hamer's car.

However, Hamer's family said the chaos broke out when Hamer tried to escape from the man.

Scott said her daughter feared for her life.

At that point, RCSD officers returned to the area and pursued Hamer's car, the report states. Hamer exits from Omarest Drive, which flows into the Broad River.

The sheriff's first public press release stated that officers were “pursuing” Hamer's car. A second, revised press release several hours later omitted that wording, saying instead that officers were “attempting to catch up with her.”

When asked why the word “track” was removed from the updated version, an RCSD spokesperson said, “The wording was revised after we had time to look at the dashboard camera.”

A sheriff's press release said that after about an hour and a half, the RCSD dive team found Hamers' body in the water. Hamers was pronounced dead at the scene.

Dow said all this could have been prevented and it didn't have to end this way.

“She was upset because they said they couldn't do anything,” she said. “She said, 'Why can't you get him? He's going to hurt me.'”

RCSD did not release all information about the incidents at the apartment complex on Wednesday.

When a WIS news crew visited the apartment complex on Thursday, they found that Hamer's window was broken and her door was damaged.

Scott said she will continue to fight for truth and justice in her daughter's case.

The 23-year-old was “the center of the party,” her mother said.

Hamer had just celebrated his birthday on Sunday.

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