Columbia Man Charged in Collision with Highway Patrol Trooper

A Columbia man was arrested Wednesday after his vehicle crashed into the rear of a marked patrol car driven by a state trooper on Interstate 26 in Lexington County.

Bryan Carroll Biggart, 39, of Bush River Road, was charged with committing a hit-and-run motor vehicle collision that involved personal injury, reckless driving, failing to render aid to a victim in a motor vehicle collision and third-offense driving with a suspended license, Lexington County Sheriff James Metts said in a department release. 

At about 2:15 a.m. Wednesday, a red 2008 SaturnVue sport-utility vehicle that

Biggart was driving a red 2008 Saturn Vue when the SUV collided with the rear of a silver 2008 Ford Crown Victoria driven by a trooper with the S.C. Highway Patrol at about 2:15 a.m. Wednesday on I-26 near mile marker 117. 

Deputies determined that Biggart was driving more than 99 mph in a zone with a 70 mph speed limit. He is also accused of failing to give information or render aid to the trooper following the collision.

Deputies say Biggart continued to drive the SUV for about five miles with the vehicle’s five air bags deployed before stopping at a rest area near mile marker 122 in Calhoun County. He called his mother around 2:30 a.m. and told her that he been involved in a collision and that he was not going back to jail, according to the sheriff’s department release. Biggart’s criminal history includes arrests for robbery and kidnapping. He then ran away from the vehicle.

Deputies conducted a manhunt for Biggart with assistance from the Lexington County Sheriff’s Department K-9 Unit, bloodhounds and deputies with the Calhoun County Sheriff’s Office, state Highway Patrol troopers and a State Law Enforcement Division helicopter. 

Biggart was arrested around 8:30 a.m. at the rest area. He was being held Wednesday at the Lexington County Detention Center.

The man and the trooper were not seriously injured in the collision. The trooper was transported to an area hospital and was released later that day.

The collision remains under investigation by the Lexington County Sheriff’s Department.