Man charged with armed robbery, assault, kidnapping

EASLEY — An Easley man is behind bars facing multiple charges after an incident in which police say he cut a man giving him a ride in an attempted robbery, sending a vehicle crashing into a home.

Steven Lamar Williams, 34, of 102 Park St., was charged with two counts of armed robbery, two counts of kidnapping, first-degree assault and possession of a weapon during commission of a violent crime.

According to an Easley Police Department incident report, two friends stopped at the Hot Spot gas station on West Main Street on Friday night. While his friend entered the gas station, the driver of the vehicle was approached by two others — a black man and a white man — and asked for a ride, the report said.

The driver told police he agreed to give the men a ride to a nearby Dollar General store. Once there, the black man went inside to return items, but the clerk would not accept them, so the man asked the driver for a ride to another Dollar General store, the report said.

While on the way to the other store, the black man allegedly pulled a knife and stuck it to the driver’s neck, cutting him in the process, and demanded the wallets and cellphones of the driver and his friend, according to the report.

The two handed over their wallets, and the driver asked the suspect to let him go because he had a wife and children, but the man still held the knife to his throat as the driver “felt the blood running down his neck,” the report said.

The driver told the man he had dropped his phone and needed to pick it up. When he leaned forward, he was able to unbuckle his seatbelt, slam on the brakes and jump out of the vehicle while it was still moving, he told police. He said his friend also jumped out of the vehicle.

According to the driver, the other two men jumped out of the vehicle before it collided with a home on South C Street.

The black man fled the scene, while the white man apologized to the driver and his friend and said he did not know the other man was planning the attack.

The man identified the suspect to police as Steven Williams and said he knew him through his sister.

A Pickens County Sheriff’s Office K9 unit was called to the scene to search for the suspect but was unsuccessful.

Two days later, officers arrested Williams after finding him hiding hiding in a bedroom of a home at 106 Happy Hollow Circle.

Williams was being held without bond Tuesday afternoon at the Pickens County Detention Center.