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Off-duty deputy who shot man with autism pleads guilty to assault

By Dean Hensley

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    HENDERSONVILLE, North Carolina (WLOS) — A former Henderson County sheriff’s deputy pleaded guilty an assault charge after reportedly firing his weapon and hitting a man with autism in an incident that happened just over a year ago.

On Feb. 4, 2025, in Henderson County Superior Court, Joshua Rankin, 26, pleaded guilty to assault with a deadly weapon inflicting serious injury and received a suspended sentence of 15-30 months by Superior Court Judge William Stetzer, according to a news release from District Attorney Andrew Murray.

According to court records, in the early-morning hours of Feb. 23, 2024, Rankin was at his Brittany Place Apartments residence in Hendersonville when he was awoken by a disturbance in the parking lot outside of his residence. Another resident also heard the disturbance and began filming on his cell phone, court records showed.

Rankin testified that he saw an adult male who appeared to be in his 20s banging on his service-issued vehicle’s windshield and also “manipulating the driver-side mirror.” Rankin’s car was backed into a parking spot across a standard two-way thoroughfare between two apartment buildings, according to court records.

Several times, Rankin proceeded to loudly announce that he was a deputy sheriff and commanded the adult male to get away from the vehicle. According to records, the male continued manipulating and twisting the service-issued vehicle’s mirror, without looking up or giving any indication that he heard or understood the commands.

Rankin then reportedly proceeded to discharge a round at the male subject, which appeared from the video to ricochet in front of the adult male. The adult male did not react to the gunshot and continued to manipulate the side view mirror and bang on the windshield. The DA said Rankin then yelled several additional commands before discharging a second round from his balcony with his personal pistol.

Court records said that the second round struck the adult male in his upper arm, causing him to flinch, look at his arm, and then calmly walk away. The Hendersonville Police Department and the Henderson County Sheriff’s Office responded to multiple 911 calls reporting the incident.

Murray said responding law enforcement quickly determined that a Henderson County sheriff’s deputy was involved in the incident and contacted the State Bureau of Investigation (SBI) to investigate. SBI agents responded and assumed the lead role in the investigation.

The SBI investigation revealed that the individual struck by the bullet was an autistic non-verbal adult male. The investigation also revealed that the victim was most likely suffering from a medical episode, which caused him to punch and strike out at the service vehicle’s windshield and side mirror.

According to the investigation, the bullet that struck the male went through the fleshy part of his upper arm before entering the service-issued vehicle’s door.

After a preliminary investigation of the scene and interviewing Rankin, Murray said the lead investigator found that lethal force was not warranted as Rankin’s life was not endangered nor the lives of others possibly in the vicinity.

Rankin was arrested on scene and was terminated by Henderson County Sheriff Lowell Griffin earlier on the same day.

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