LAMAR, SC (WBTW) – Mayor Darnell Byrd McPherson spoke publicly for the first time since reporting her car had been vandalized in what police say turned out to be pollen.
“I have worked in a hostile environment. I have worked where someone came and cut my tires, so when I saw that, it scared me,” Byrd McPherson said Monday night at a council meeting.
News13 spoke to Mayor Byrd McPherson earlier Monday. She said she reported a sticky substance found on her car to the Lamar Police Department. Later, when police returned to her to sign the report, she says she signed it without reading it first.
She says the officer did not give any indication that the situation had changed since she first reported the incident. She also says that police never gave a sample of the substance to SLED during their investigation.
Lamar police and a deputy with the Darlington County Sheriff’s Office investigated the substance and concluded it had a yellowish tint to it and that it was a type of powder similar to pollen. SLED had also been called in based on the seriousness of the accusations, according to Lt. Robert Kilgo with the Darlington County Sheriff’s Office. The mayor denies that it was pollen.
Mayor Byrd McPherson believes police did not use the proper investigative techniques when looking into this incident.
The case has gotten national attention. The mayor told News13 Monday that she did not mean to offend anyone and that was not her intention. She also says she has received hateful messages since the story made national headlines, including at least one person calling her the n-word.
View the full incident report here.
