On the night of November 20, 1992, near Hardeeville, South Carolina, a 31-year-old male, South Carolina Highway Patrol Trooper Mark Hunter Coates, was shot and killed during a traffic stop on Interstate 95. A U.S. Marine Corps veteran, Coates had served with the highway patrol for five years and was a member of the Aggressive Criminal Enforcement Team, which focused on drug interdiction.
That evening, Trooper Coates pulled over a vehicle for weaving.
During the stop, the driver, Richard E. Blackburn, began to struggle with Coates. The altercation escalated, and both men fell to the ground. Blackburn then fired a. 22 caliber handgun, striking Coates in the chest. Although the bullet was stopped by his protective vest, a second shot fired by Blackburn struck Trooper Coates in his left armpit, with the bullet entering his heart. Despite his fatal injury, Coates was able to return fire, hitting Blackburn five times in the chest with his. 357 caliber revolver.
Blackburn survived the shooting and was taken into custody after receiving medical treatment. He was subsequently charged with murder, convicted, and sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. Blackburn was denied parole in 2022 and remained incarcerated until his death in prison in 2024. In honor of the fallen trooper, a section of Interstate 95 in Jasper County has been named the Mark H. Coates Highway.
