From [HERE] Almost seven years have passed since Bluffton Police Officer Cody Kirkman flipped Ted Ellis face first onto the May River Road pavement, kneeling on the handcuffed man's back while blood leaked from his chin.

Since that humid August afternoon in 2017, Ellis pursued a lawsuit that slowly wound its way through the courts. Attorneys, allegations and defendants came and went as he pressed his claim, challenging the officer's actions during the traffic stop that day. But in March, the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals dispatched Kirkman's final challenge. Ellis accepted a $750,000 settlement offer after his excessive force claim prevailed. The money was paid out by the agency overseeing the state insurance reserve fund, according to his attorney.

Kirkman fought wrongdoing appearances and allegations from the arrest to the appellate court, but evidence in the case challenges the officer's narrative. 

Kirkman's attorneys argued that Ellis could pose a danger without a thorough search. A magistrate who reviewed the case found that argument unconvincing. 

Kirkman leaned down, grabbed the handcuffed Ellis below the knee, and pulled his legs out from under him. Nothing broke Ellis' fall. His face hit the pavement. Kirkman said in the incident report he reached around Ellis' waist to control his center of gravity, a claim refuted by video, reports from both of the other officers at the scene, and, eventually, his own deposition.

Kirkman knelt on Ellis' back. Ellis was shocked, "Oh, no," he repeated before the shock resided. He threatened that he would "find" Kirkman.

On top of the man prone on the pavement, Kirkman yelled at Ellis to "stop moving." In the reflection of the car's sheen, Kirkman's hand appeared on top of his leg, pressed onto Ellis' back, his black wedding ring stark against Ellis' white tank top and the officer's pale skin. Ellis' blood dribbled from his chin under the car toward the side of the road. Gibson held Ellis' feet.

Kirkman knelt on Ellis' back for almost nine minutes, a detail omitted in his incident report description.

At one point, Kirkman dismounted and Ellis requested he return. During other moments, Ellis asked to be helped off the ground, with Kirkman remaining on top.

Eventually, officers helped Ellis sit up.

"Officer, you had no business doing that," Ellis said.

Kirkman stammered. What ensued was a brief argument that mirrored litigation each side's attorneys would make in the simplest terms.

Ellis repeated his position: Kirkman was in the wrong.

Ellis' attorneys said he had a fractured jaw, was diagnosed with post-concussive syndrome and lost a number of teeth, which they argued stemmed from the incident.

In the waning moments of the video, a firefighter hosed Ellis' blood off the street.

Bluffton's excessive use of force report found that Kirkman used a "reasonable amount of force necessary to conduct a proper search of Ellis." It also said that the three officers at the scene "did not prevent Ted Ellis from hurting himself."

Kenney said the case was about "the proposition that a police officer cannot use potentially deadly force against a handcuffed suspect who is not attempting to fight or flee."

Kirkman was promoted in 2018. He ultimately resigned from the department in 2021. His LinkedIn page shows he works for a Beaufort-based tree care organization and owns a personal training company. Gibson resigned in October 2017. Swinehamer quit in March 2019.