By Joan McDonough
The Island Packet (Hilton Head Island, S.C.)
BEAUFORT COUNTY, S.C. — A 27-year-old inmate in the Beaufort County Detention Center punched a correctional officer in the face on Friday after a disagreement about his recreation time, according to a Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office report.
The Seabrook man told a deputy that he did, in fact, punch the correctional officer at the jail and he “knew it was wrong,” but he felt he was justified because “his grandfather always told him to defend himself,” according to the report.
The inmate said his recreational time wasn’t quite up when the officer told him it was, so he punched the officer in the jaw when he started to approach the inmate. A second officer sprayed the inmate with pepper spray.
There was a “slight red mark” on the correctional officer’s jaw after the punch, according to the report. The two officers took the man to be “screened by medical and decontaminated” after the pepper spray.
He was charged with misdemeanor third degree assault and battery and his bond for that charge was set at $1,087.50, according to online Beaufort County Court records. He remains incarcerated, with bond set for other misdemeanor charges against him. The inmate has been in jail since January.
©2018 The Island Packet (Hilton Head, S.C.)