Four men have been charged with second-degree lynching in connection with a Thanksgiving Day fight captured on a store video camera.
One of the men involved in the fight says it started after a remark was made about a Thanksgiving duck hunting trip. While town police say the fight was fueled by alcohol, the grandfather of one of the men in the fight says it was started by hate.
“I saw hate in that tape. Hate, hate, hate,” said Tony Fogle, whose grandson, Ross Fogle, was one of two men beaten at Shorty’s Horizon that night.
However, Norway Police Capt. Curtis Mizell said that based on his investigation and from reviewing the tape, he doesn’t believe the altercation was hate-based.
“I don’t think so,” Mizell said. “I think it was more alcohol-induced than anything else.”
Regardless, four individuals were arrested following the brawl. Charged with second-degree lynching was Reginald Youmans, 33, of 145 Youmansville Road; Marion Washington Jr., 25, of 308 Block Road; McKenzie Clemons, 23, of 148 Norfield Road; and Christopher Burkett, 32, of 778 Henry Road. Burkett was charged with two counts of second-degree lynching.
Lynching is the legal term used when several people gang up on another.
At the Orangeburg-Calhoun Regional Detention Center, no booking photos were available of any of the individuals charged in the incident. Officials explained the individuals may not have been processed as of Wednesday.
On Tuesday, the men were taken before Orangeburg County Magistrate Meree Williamson, who set bond on each at $1,000 surety.
The owner of Carolina Fresh Farms, Tony Fogle, asked for and was granted recognition during Norway’s town council meeting Monday night. Fogle then introduced a copy of the security tape obtained from the convenience store.
In an interview Tuesday, the World War II veteran explained his actions at the town council meeting by saying the alteration occurred 11 days prior and he wanted action. Fogle said he felt that with the lack of an arrest, “something wasn’t right.”
Mizell said the delay in making the arrests is not uncommon, but added that he began the paperwork process to obtain the warrants the day after the incident. The defendants resided outside of Norway PD’s jurisdiction, which required assistance from the Orangeburg County Sheriff’s Office to serve the warrants.
“It being out in the county, I can’t just go and serve the warrant,” Mizell said. “They (OCSO) were short-handed.”
Officials believe the hubbub began Thanksgiving afternoon when Ross Fogle and some cousins were duck hunting on a 28-acre parcel of land. That parcel, outside of Norway and known locally as Elizabethtown, is at least partially owned by Tony Fogle.
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