Nine years ago a South Carolina jury convicted Luzenski Allen Cottrell of shooting and killing Officer Joe McGarry of the Myrtle Beach Police Department. Because of a successful appeal, this week Cotrell is receiving a new trial.
The incident occurred shortly after midnight on Dec. 29, 2002, in the parking lot of a Dunkin Donuts. McGarry, 28, stopped a man to question him. A scuffle ensued, and the man pulled out a handgun and shot McGarry in the face. McGarry's partner returned fire, and hit the man in the leg, as he and a woman fled the scene in a 1996 Honda Accord.