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Bluffton police officer under internal investigation

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A Bluffton police officer has been placed on paid leave while the department investigates allegations of misconduct stemming from a disturbance during services at a Bluffton-area church.

Officer Omar Nieves has worked for the Bluffton Police Department for about three years, a period that also included some military service, said Chief David McAllister.

"We feel the allegation is serious enough that he has to be relieved from duty until the outcome of the investigation," McAllister said Monday.

It is unclear exactly what the dispute is about.

Earlier in the day, the Beaufort County Sheriff's Office released a report filed by Jose Rosado, pastor of Iglesia Ebenezer, a Pentecostal church on Pinckney Colony Road.

Rosado called sheriff's deputies just before 11 p.m. Friday and said Nieves pushed past two ushers during a Friday evening service, disrupting Rosado's sermon, according to the report.

Nieves reportedly told the ushers that "if you rob a bank, you are a thief." What Nieves meant by that statement is unclear.

In the sheriff's report, Rosado said he and Nieves met Wednesday and were scheduled to meet again Friday night, an appointment Rosado either canceled or didn't show up for.

He told the deputies that he did not want Nieves back on church property and asked that his home address not be listed on the report so Nieves doesn't know where

he lives.

When reached Monday afternoon, Rosado asked an Island Packet reporter to call back. He did not respond to messages left at the church and on his cell phone later in the day.

Nieves could not be reached for comment Monday. His listed phone number had been disconnected. He apparently called the incident a "misunderstanding" when he was interviewed over the phone by a sheriff's deputy.

That deputy called a Bluffton police sergeant, who responded and briefed his supervisors of the situation.

McAllister said he learned of the incident Friday. An internal affairs investigation began Monday, he said, adding he hopes it will proceed rapidly.

The chief, citing that inquiry, said he could not provide specific information about the allegations of

misconduct against the officer.

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