YORK COUNTY, S.C. (CN2 NEWS) Willie Bernard Wright appearing in York County Courts on this Wednesday.
In 2019 Wright was arrested for the attempted murder of a state trooper along with several other charges. Dash cam footage shows Wright led the trooper on a chase down Mt. Gallant Road, here in Rock Hill.
Wright then shot at the trooper several times during the traffic stop.
This York County courtroom was filled with South Carolina Highway patrol troopers in support of one of their own, Trooper Paul Wise.
28-year-old Willie Wright with sentenced to 35 years for state charges three of those charges will be served concurrently.
“I just wish I could’ve made a better decision but I didn’t, and I have to live with it. And I just hope that one day he can forgive me,” says Wright.
“His record, certainly speaks to a callous indifference to Public Safety and his action on June 2, 2019 speech to a callous indifference to the safety of Paul wise and the right of our society to organize itself and protect itself from people like Willie Wright,” says 16th Judicial Circuit Solicitor Kevin Brackett.
Trooper Wise saying he’s still haunted by the incident even learning new information in court on this Wednesday.
“I go every day through life, running the same day over and over again it’s a day that I live with forever. And, I will forever remember it. Every day I think God that I’m still here and as Mr. Brackett explained earlier if it wasn’t for the windshield, there’s a good chance I wouldn’t have been here,” says Trooper Wise. “And I’ve learned since I’ve been in here today that there was one round left and because of a stove pipe, that last round was not fired. And since I’ve been sitting in this quart room that’s another thing I’ve wondered is it that gun would not have stove pipe wear with that last round of been.”
Willie Wright still faces up to 10 years for federal charges but he will reappear in court in about a month, where a federal judge. That federal judge will determine whether those years will be served concurrently with the state charges.
In the video above, CN2’s Rachel Richardson has more on Wright’s sentencing.
