Deputies: Man arrested after traffic accident with stolen vehicle in Oconee Co.

OCONEE COUNTY, S.C. (FOX Carolina) - The Oconee County Sheriff’s Office reports arresting a man in connection to a stolen vehicle and traffic accident on Tuesday.

Deputies said they responded to the intersection of Highway 28 at East Halfway Branch Road.

Deputies report 30-year-old Justin Lee Parker from Georgia stole a 2022 Ford Bronco, worth around $56,000, from a Walhalla area auto dealership on Blue Ridge Boulevard in West Union. A deputy tried to arrest him when he resisted arrest and grabbed the deputy and threw him to the ground, according to an arrest warrant.

Additional deputies and police officers arrived and arrested him, officials said.

Deputies report it was determined during the investigation that Parker hit a 2007 Honda Civic with two occupants and a 2018 Honda CRV with one driver while driving fast on Highway 28 in the stolen Bronco. The driver of the Honda CRV and Parker were taken to the hospital, while the two occupants of the Honda Civic were not injured.

Arrest warrants said that Parker also hit a sign on Highway 28 and that he was transporting alcohol inside of the vehicle in a bottle of alcohol with a broken seal.

Deputies report Parker was charged with the following:

• Three counts of assault and battery of a high and aggravated nature
• Assault on a police officer while resisting arrest
• Grand larceny
• Malicious injury to personal property (Value $2,000 or Less)
• Malicious injury to personal property (Value $10,000 or more)
• Striking fixtures on or adjacent to the roadway
• Transporting alcohol with a seal broken
• Reckless driving

He was booked into the Oconee County Detention Center around 12 p.m. on Wednesday.

Parker was previously arrested on Sunday on a charge of public disorderly conduct in connection to a suspicious person call on Highlands Highway at Yellow Branch Road. He was released on Monday on a personal recognizance bond, deputies said.