A repeat offender was killed early Friday in a single-vehicle wreck while trying to outrun Aiken police, authorities said.
Troy R. Kooy, 50, of Aiken, was pronounced dead after crashing on Willow Run Road near Rudy Mason Parkway in Aiken, according to Coroner Tim Carlton.
Kooy was trying to outrun cops in his 2002 Dodge pick-up truck after Aiken police caught him in the middle of a drug deal on Richland and Newberry streets near Playoffs bar around 1 a.m. Friday, said ADPS Capt. David Turno.
Kooy jumped in his truck and sped away, almost hitting responding officers before ramming another patrol car that was just pulling up. The officer in that vehicle had to be treated at a local hospital for back pain, Capt. Turno said.
The high-speed chase only lasted a few minutes when Kooy suddenly left the road, went down an embankment and struck a tree, the coroner said. He was not wearing a seat belt and was driving on a suspended license. Police had lost sight of him but a S.C. Highway Patrol trooper found the vehicle at the crash site. Officers found drugs on Kooy’s body and they seized drugs on several suspects he was dealing with outside the bar.
“Excessive speed and alcohol use may have been contributing factors” in the crash, Carlton said in a press release.
With his distinctive facial tattoos and long criminal record, Kooy is well-known to police. His crimes in Aiken County date back to the 1980s and he served time in Georgia for an Augusta robbery.
In 2013, he was charged in several Aiken County robberies, including a hold-up of the Dollar General on York Street that was thwarted when a female customer struck him with a bag of laundry detergent. He was also accused in the robbery of the Kent’s Korner on Wagener Road. In that case, witnesses say he reached over the counter when the register was open and grabbed some cash.
His criminal history in Aiken County:
1989: Marijuana possession
1998 – Driving under suspension, marijuana possession
2000: Common law robbery, simple larceny
2013: Strong armed robbery, possession of controlled substances,
2014: DUI, driving under suspension
2015: Driving under suspension
In 2004, he was also charged in Richmond County with robbery and earned a 10-year prison sentence with five years of probation. He was ordered to undergo treatment for drug abuse, according to online records.
