HILTON HEAD — New videos have surfaced that provide further details about a weekend confrontation in which an off-duty Beaufort County sheriff’s deputy pulled a gun on several teens and threatened to shoot them in the middle of a neighborhood street.
Both the sheriff’s office and the State Law Enforcement Division are investigating the matter. Neither agency has publicly identified the officer.
The Post and Courier has learned that the incident in the Squiresgate neighborhood involved
Master Sgt. William “Billy” Squires, a 19-year-veteran of the department.
The sheriff’s department previously acknowledged only that the officer lives in the neighborhood. Public records list Squires’ address in the Squiresgate area. When the newspaper requested Squires’ personnel file from the SC Criminal Justice Academy on Sept. 29, an academy spokesperson confirmed that SLED had requested the same file that day.
Reached by phone, Squires declined comment and referred The Post and Courier to the sheriff’s office, which has not provided records that the newspaper requested.
An 84-second video depicting Squires brandishing his weapon on the youths has gone viral. Additional videos given to The Post and Courier provide more detail about what led to the altercation.
A group of boys were walking in the neighborhood late in the afternoon on Sept. 28. A bearded man rode next to them on a green all-terrain vehicle, according to videos provided by Alexis Housey, an aunt of one of the boys.
The Post and Courier is not identifying the children, who have not been charged with any crime.
The man, wearing glasses and a backwards hat, spoke with the teenagers while keeping pace. A dark, long-neck beer bottle hung from a holder tethered to his ATV. The label was obscured.
One of the kids told the man to move on, according to audio from the cellphone video.
“Get the (expletive) on bro. Get on, bro,” a teen said. “You come out of nowhere and you start talking (expletive). You are 40 years old. … Bro, you’re drunk as (expletive).”
The ATV driver finally said, “All I want to say is, ‘Hey, how y’all doing.’”
One of the boys interjected: “And it’s none of your business. You’re asking us where we stay and (expletive).”
Later, a man approached in a white pickup truck, another video shows. According to Housey, the man driving the truck is Squires, though the video does not clearly show his face.
“I’m on your side. Relax. Stop, stop,” he said. “The best thing is for you guys to leave.”
One of the boys responded, “But what did we do though? I don’t understand what we did. We were walking and then he comes up behind us. … We were walking in the neighborhood, doing nothing.”
The man in the car interjected, “You guys don’t live here.”
“I live in the neighborhood right next to this,” the boy said.
“They don’t care,” the driver responded. “Listen, guys, I’m trying to help you. I’m trying to help you. You guys want to get arrested or not?”
“Get arrested for what?” the boys asked.
The man drove off.
In another video, Squires returned wearing a sheriff’s office tactical vest with his handgun drawn. “Get on the ground,” he yelled repeatedly, along with “Come here.”
Two boys asked someone nearby to call the police. “I am the police,” Squires responded as he picked up a backpack from the ground and holstered the weapon.
One boy lunged for the bag. Another rushed in and pushed the deputy in the face.
Squires again drew his gun and pointed it at the boys.
“I will shoot you,” he said as he walked toward person shooting the video.
The person filming the incident yelled again, asking why Squires pointed the gun at him. The boy repeatedly called for his mom.
Later, another man pinned one of the boys to the ground. One hand was on the boy’s neck, the other at his waist. His clothing, beard and a tattoo on his right forearm was similar to the man who had been driving the ATV earlier.
“Yo, mom, they’re saying we have a gun,” someone yelled.
The camera briefly shows Squires and the young person, who was wearing pajama pants and no shoes. “I just came for my little brother,” he said. “Do not touch me. Please do not touch me.”
“You attacked me,” an adult man said. “Stay down.”
“They were flashing a gun, bro,” another adult said.
“These kids don’t have a (expletive) gun,” the person filming said.
An adult can be heard on a radio asking dispatchers to send law enforcement units to the area.
The camera panned to a woman walking a dog.
“That’s my son,” the woman said.
“Go away,” a man screamed at her.
“Nobody has a gun,” the woman said.
Squires appeared to speak to an man who drove to the scene, saying: “They flashed a gun down here. They flashed a gun at (inaudible) down there,” pointing up the street. “When I got here, they started to attack.”
The boy filming tried to appeal to the person holding him to stop. In the background, a man responded, “I’m letting up. I walked out to this. I don’t know what’s going on either.”
“This is such a lawsuit,” the boy filming said. A man tells him to stop.
“What do you mean stop? I just came from my house,” he replied.
Squires is suspended without pay, stripped of his badge and service weapon, as the sheriff’s office and SLED investigate. Housey said the families are trying to hire a lawyer to bring legal action.