St. Patrick’s Day weekend partying lands some behind bars in Beaufort Co. and Savannah

No major incidents were reported Sunday at the 36th annual Hilton Head Island St. Patrick’s Day Parade, according to the Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office.

“The crowd was peaceful,” Sheriff’s Office spokesperson Maj. Bob Bromage said Monday.

Deputies did not make any arrests at the parade, nor did they issue any citations, he said. One child was briefly reported missing but was quickly reunited with family.

All told, 11 people across the county were arrested and charged with DUI from midnight Friday through midnight Sunday, according to statistics provided by the county’s law enforcement agencies and jail log.

South Carolina Highway Patrol made seven of those arrests; Bluffton Police Department made two; and the Port Royal Police Department and the Sheriff’s Office made one each.

The Beaufort Police Department reported no DUI arrests during that time period, but one person was arrested for public drunkenness.

The Sheriff’s Office arrested and charged one person with false representation of age to purchase alcohol, according to the jail log.

In Savannah, law enforcement agencies reported 260 arrests beginning Thursday evening when St. Patrick’s Day partying began in earnest through Sunday, the day after the city’s annual parade.

Eighty-one people were arrested and charged with DUI in Savannah and Chatham County, according to the Chatham County Sheriff’s Office, which compiled statistics from 10 agencies, including their own.

The Savannah Police Department reported 19 arrests in the “festival zone” between Friday and Saturday, as well as 247 traffic citations, which includes 12 DUI arrests.

Out of 32 ABC business compliance checks conducted in Savannah between Friday and Saturday, 16 businesses failed, according to a Savannah Police news release.