Off-duty RCSO deputy punches girlfriend & injures daughter at Harlem home

Terence Driggers is shown in his mugshot and RCSO employment photo

Date: April 17, 2024

A Richmond County deputy was arrested for domestic violence on Monday night at his home in Columbia County, authorities said.

Deputy Terence Driggers, 33, was arrested after allegedly punching his live-in girlfriend in the face and throwing their daughter to the ground inside their home on Bealwood Drive in Harlem, authorities said. The assault left his children’s mother with bruising and swelling on her eye. The daughter suffered visible cuts to her arm and abdomen, according to arrest warrants.

MORE: Groups call for ‘no’ vote on mayoral referendum

Harlem police charged him with two counts of battery – family violence and one count of cruelty to children in the third degree. The child cruelty occurred because his young son who is named for him was in the home and witnessed the domestic violence, a warrant says.

The Richmond County Sheriff’s Office released a statement following the arrest, saying the Internal Affairs Division was notified of the arrest. Deputy Driggers resigned on Tuesday.

“Deputy Driggers was off duty at the time of the incident,” Tuesday’s statement said. “Deputy Driggers began his employment with the Richmond County Sheriff’s Office on March 14, 2015. Deputy Driggers was assigned to Road Patrol.”

The RCSO statement says the incident will follow the same course as any other criminal investigation.

What to Read Next

The Author

Greg Rickabaugh is an award-winning crime reporter in the Augusta-Aiken area with experience writing for The Augusta Chronicle and serving as publisher of The Jail Report. He also owns AugustaCrime.com. Rickabaugh is a 1994 graduate of the University of South Carolina and has appeared on several crime documentaries on the Investigation Discovery channel. He is married with two daughters.

Comment Policy

The Augusta Press encourages and welcomes reader comments; however, we request this be done in a respectful manner, and we retain the discretion to determine which comments violate our comment policy. We also reserve the right to hide, remove and/or not allow your comments to be posted.

The types of comments not allowed on our site include:

  • Threats of harm or violence
  • Profanity, obscenity, or vulgarity, including images of or links to such material
  • Racist comments
  • Victim shaming and/or blaming
  • Name calling and/or personal attacks;
  • Comments whose main purpose are to sell a product or promote commercial websites or services;
  • Comments that infringe on copyrights;
  • Spam comments, such as the same comment posted repeatedly on a profile.