Police continue to look for a man who cut off his electronic monitoring device after an arrest on drug and gun charges.
Kashief Spain, 34, of Myrtle Beach, led police in a chase on Highway 31 three weeks ago, when officers say he threw a gun out of his car window.
The gun is the one stolen from the former North Myrtle Beach Public Safety Director William Bailey.
Police say Spain cut the ankle strap on his electronic monitoring device Monday. He should be considered dangerous.
The Horry County Sheriff's Office and the 15th Circuit Deputy Solicitor say most of the time, electronic monitoring is a good tool for keeping track of a defendant's movements before they go to court.
It's rare for someone to break the device, but authorities say at least once or twice a year, it does happen.
The magistrate's office won't comment on pending cases, but Deputy Solicitor Jimmy Richardson said magistrates typically look at two factors in bond hearings.
"They have to determine if the person is a flight risk and second, if that person is a danger to the community."
Richardson said the $45,000 bond placed on Spain was pretty typical for the charges against him.
A small number of defendants are placed on electronic monitoring and while that process isn't flawless, Richardson said it does give police an immediate heads-up that a suspect is on the run.
"As soon as he cut that, we knew that he was gone. Most of the time, you don't know until you call them for court and they don't show up," Richardson said.
The strap on the monitor is made of hard rubber, with a flex wire going through it. The device itself is a GPS unit that allows sheriff's deputies to track a defendant's movements.
The device is hard but not impossible to break out of, and deputies say it works well for what it is intended to do.
"It's not designed to contain a person. It's designed to use as a tool to help monitor the person out on bond," said Major Joey Johnson, deputy director of the J. Reuben Long Detention Center.
Now that Spain is on the loose, his information is in the National Crime Information Center, which goes to police everywhere in the country.
"Which means that if he's stopped in Alabama, or Ohio or wherever else, someone's gonna hold him and they'll bring him back to South Carolina," Richardson said.
It's not just police who are looking for Spain. A bail bondsman put up the money that allowed Spain to stay out of jail and Richardson said that bondsman now has 45,000 good reasons to help police find him.
About 50 to 60 defendants are on electronic monitoring in Horry County at any one time.
