While they were working to help the city of Seneca deal with the media onslaught in the aftermath of the Zachary Hammond shooting last year, Complete Public Relations also was drafting a letter to the president of Clemson University suggesting he fire two professors who spoke out against the city.
That was just one chapter revealed in a three-month-long chain of emails between the Greenville PR firm and the city that the city's lawyers tried to shield from public view. Several of the emails also show how the public relations consultant was evasive in answering some of the many questions from news media, including The Greenville News' inquiry about whether the police department had any photos of the scene of the July 26, incident in which the year-old Hammond was shot and killed by a Seneca police officer.
The city also never followed up on its own PR agency's recommendation that it would help its public standing if it filed suit seeking to compel SLED to release the dash cam video of the shooting. As several activist groups organized rallies calling for the city to release the video in the months following Hammond's death, two Clemson professors joined in the criticism of the city's policies.
Clemson spokeswoman Robin Denny said the university received the letter from Seneca and responded that it was not a university matter because the professors were there as private citizens, not in an official capacity. Boyanoski said he answered truthfully based on the information he had. In an email later that day, Police Chief John Covington tells Boyanoski that Tiller's dash cam video was the only one taken, and that SLED took possession of it on the night of the incident.
But he adds that the department has still-frame shots of the scene and body. One of the early strategies the company suggested to the city was for it to push for the release of the video.
