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by ANDY FANCHER
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An unidentified deputy with the Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office (BCSO) has been suspended after a Facebook video surfaced showing him pointing a firearm — apparently while off duty — and shouting at what appear to be juveniles.
The 90-second video, posted late Sunday night, opens with the heavyset deputy rushing toward two young people with his gun drawn. He can be heard shouting commands such as, “Get on the ground!” and “Come here! You see?” while motioning toward his weapon.
Any suggestion the deputy was acting in an official capacity is undercut by his appearance: while wearing a black shirt and a duty vest bearing a BCSO patch, he was also dressed in white shorts and Hey Dude slip-on shoes.
The incident appears to have taken place near a street sign for Squiresgate Road, a small residential stretch on Hilton Head Island.
“I am the police,” the deputy shouted as he forced the teens onto their knees in the middle of the street, lunging for their backpack.
When one juvenile reached toward the bag, the deputy screamed, “Get the fuck on the ground!” He grabbed the youth by the arm, spun him around, and kicked at his legs in an apparent attempt to restrain him.
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A third juvenile then rushed in, seemingly trying to protect his friend. The deputy pulled his gun again, shouting, “I will shoot you,” while waving the weapon back and forth between the teens. He then aimed directly at the youth holding the camera, who had not intervened.
“Why are you pointing it at me?” the boy asked, filming as the camera looked down the barrel of the deputy’s handgun. Even though he was already on the ground, the deputy kept screaming for him to get down, which he did. From there, the teen captured a close, harrowing angle of the deputy ordering the remaining kids to “get on the fucking ground.”
Throughout the confrontation, the kids screamed for help, their cries growing more frantic until the boy recording called for his mother five times in near-hysterical desperation.
Off camera, a distant scream could be heard — soon revealed to be the first teen the deputy had targeted on camera. The deputy dragged the youth back into the street and dropped him beside the boy with the camera.
The video ends with two people hesitantly walking toward the scene from down the road.
While it remains unclear what led to the confrontation — if anything — the footage was enough for BCSO to suspend the deputy “pending an internal investigation and any possible criminal investigation.”
The sheriff’s office further urged anyone with information, “including videos,” to share it with their internal affairs investigator assigned to the case, Lieutenant Draisen.
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Sheriff's Office Internal Investigation https://t.co/A4MSmlpjUu
— Beaufort County Sheriff's Office, SC (@bcsopio) September 29, 2025
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FITSNews is asking the public for the same, as well as for the identity of the deputy.
BCSO issued a statement on Monday afternoon providing additional information about the incident.
“On Sunday, September 28th, 2025, at approximately 6:47 p.m. the Sheriff’s Office responded to calls of a disturbance in a community on Hilton Head,” the statement noted. “Upon the deputies’ arrival, it was learned that an off-duty deputy was involved in the incident in the neighborhood where he resides. Shortly after the incident, the deputy was suspended without pay. He was relieved of his credentials, badge, Sheriff’s Office issued weapons, and equipment by a Command Staff member who responded to the scene.”
“Deputies are held to a higher standard, as they must abide by all BCSO policies and procedures, both on and off duty,” the statement continued. “The Internal Affairs Investigation is an administrative investigation that could take some time to complete, with multiple people needing to be interviewed.”
BCSO indicated it was asking the S.C. State Law Enforcement Division (SLED) to “investigate this incident for any possible criminal violations” and refer its findings to the office of S.C. fourteenth circuit solicitor Duffie Stone.
“While our office is conducting an administrative investigation, any criminal investigation being conducted by SLED will be conducted as a parallel investigation in accordance with the standards set forth by the Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies (CALEA),” the statement noted, asking anyone with information about the case to “cooperate with both our agency and SLED.”
Stone’s office issued its own statement on Monday afternoon, saying a public corruption unit he formed with S.C. first circuit solicitor David Pascoe would review SLED’s findings and determine whether to press charges.
“Once SLED completes its review, the Regional Public Integrity Unit will decide if criminal charges are appropriate,” Stone’s office noted.
This story may be updated.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR…
(Dynal Nolan/FITSNews)
Andrew Fancher is a Lone Star Emmy award-winning journalist from Dallas, Texas. Cut from a bloodline of outlaws and lawmen alike, he was the first of his family to graduate college which was accomplished with honors. Got a story idea or news tip for Andy? Email him directly and connect with him socially across Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.
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23 comments
He should have just worn a ski mask and driven an unmarked van just like the elite federal law enforcement goons do now.
Are you ANTIFA? I sense you have secrets
The cop had a body cam on . Will it show these Hilton Head Island spoiled brats brought it all on themselves?
How do three unarmed teens in a public space “bring upon themselves” a man wearing an armored vest waving a pistol around at them?
Is this standard procedure where you’re from, walk in gun drawn and pointed at the heads of children as you threaten to shoot them for no verbalized reason?
Is that what you expect from a good lawman?
Utterly disgraceful.
What did the kids do leading up to this? Was that bag theirs, or the deputy’s? The kid in the red shirt appears to commit assault on the deputy. Yeah this looks overboard but I get the feeling that these kids are nit the little angels that some might want us to believe they are.
You’re an idiot
That is a lucid and well thought out argument
It will be interesting to see what brought all this on and what the deputy does for a living after getting fired.
Have you seen what took place at the start?
No, that’s why I said “It will be interesting to see what brought all this on…”. Regardless of what started it, this officer will be looking for a new job, maybe in “conflict resolution” or in “conflict de-escalation”.
Do you have any insight into what started it?
So many kids today have learned to have no respect for anything.
In part, bad parenting, hate filled Communist media, and radical unhinged politicians is a dangerous concoction. The results are more evident all throughout society. And that can never be refuted.
Being a cop today is 1000 times more risky then it was when Obama was first elected.
Shut the fuck up, you retard. There is no amount of disrespect kids could ever display that would make them deserve having their life threatened by a drunk cunt waving a gun around.
Sound like you went to Yale for Law School
Even if we assume he has a “good reason” to come out gun drawn, that idiot “cop” put everybody in danger by escalating and then recklessly proceeding to close in alone.
“I am the police!”
If those kids were real troublemakers, if they were really inclined to violence, then this idiot gave them every opportunity to gang up and snatch that gun right out of his idiot hand and really hurt someone.
Cop on a roid rage.
Why is the Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office conducting the investigation of the actions of a Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office Deputy? Shouldn’t the investigation be handled by a separate entity such as the State Law Enforcement Division?
It’s normal for law enforcement to investigate policy violations that could lead to discipline by employer, such as suspension or termination. They usually call in SLED, as they did in this case, to investigate violations of criminal law. The investigations are typically parallel but separate.
So the the Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office Sheriff’s Office will investigate whether one of their own was properly trained and supervised and whether the deputy’s prior service demonstrated the appropriate temperament and judgment to be an armed law enforcement officer? Being poorly trained, poorly supervised or have having a history of inappropriate conduct are not crimes.
I hope we will get some honest information about how this altercation began. This BCSO cop should have called his department if there was an issue. He wasn’t on duty and did not need to interject himself into whatever was happening unless harm was being done to someone. He could have taken videos if they were doing something illegal and reported it. This was a dumb move on his part.
Wouldn’t proper protocol be to call for backup and deescalate the situation as much as possible until backup arrives?
Are cops even trained to deescalate at all? Ever?
I don’t understand why other people are expecting children to have done something to deserve having a gun pointed in their face. Was that the only option here? Why lethal force instead of nonlethal? What made the cop think a taser or pepper spray couldn’t be implemented instead? Are they not equipped with nonlethal implements?
God help us if the kids weren’t the standard Republican demographic.
It is interesting that this “off duty” cop has some of his bat gear on? Do cops sit around drinking with their armor and sidearm on? Maybe he saw something that made him run get his bat gear and run after these kids? Be interesting to see how the think blue liners explain this kind of dumbass shit from another 88.
This is not a person that I would trust as any form of police official. He did nothing but give those kids PTSD and a distrust in law enforcement. He needs to be fired, and never again be in any job that allows him to carry weapons. We need to know what these kids did that he felt deserved for them to be treated like this. That one boy screaming for his mother is heartbreaking, and every parent needs to see this video.
What will the fathers do hmm…
Go to the true sunlight podcast and listen to Mandy Liz and David and get a general idea of what possibly and more than likely happened.