South Carolina Briefs: Man throws 13-year-old from car

COLUMBIA (AP) - Authorities say a man from Georgia came to South Carolina to have sex with a 13-year-old girl and threw her out of his vehicle while speeding away from police.

Richland County deputies said an officer saw 30-year-old Derek Nelson of Augusta, Georgia, climb from the back seat to the front seat of his car and speed away from a Columbia parking lot at 3 a.m. Sunday.

Deputies said in a statement that Nelson was only wearing a T-shirt when his car was stopped.

Deputies found a girl nearby, and she said she was thrown from the vehicle. She suffered injuries to her hands, arms and legs.

Nelson faces criminal sexual conduct, assault, sexual exploitation of a minor and several other charges. It wasn't known if he had a lawyer.

Richland passes plastic bag ban

COLUMBIA (AP) - South Carolina's second-largest county is moving forward on a ban on single-use plastic bags.

The Richland County Council gave initial approval to the ban Tuesday, although it faces two more votes. The draft ordinance also does not give a date the ban would take effect.

Instead of plastic bags, stores would either have to have customers use their own reusable bags or bags made from recycled paper.

The State newspaper reported businesses breaking the law could be fined up to $500 per violation and lose their business licenses.

Nearly 20 other local governments, mostly along the coast, have passed similar bans. State lawmakers considered legislation preventing local bans, but it did not pass this session.

2nd officer resigns over bogus Charleston traffic tickets

CHARLESTON, S.C. (AP) - A second police officer in South Carolina has resigned after authorities determined he was writing bogus traffic tickets to drivers without their knowledge.

A statement from the Charleston Police Department says officer Blaine Morgan resigned Wednesday. Officer Michael Baker quit last week after an internal review of the traffic tickets.

The department says the officers were writing the tickets so it looked like they were properly patrolling their area of Charleston. They would then dismiss the bogus tickets.

The officers have not spoken about the investigation.

Police say they have dropped all pending tickets written by the two officers.