Fired deputy faces 2nd lawsuit after pointing gun at Hilton Head teens
A now-fired Beaufort County deputy and his former agency are facing a second lawsuit after he confronted a group of teenage boys at gunpoint while off duty in his Hilton Head Island neighborhood last month.
Named as defendants are former Master Sgt. William “Billy” Squires, 41; his neighbor Brian Stahlheber; the Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office; and five unidentified “John Does” who helped hold down the boys on the pavement, referred to as “neighborhood vigilantes” in the court summons.
Squires and Stahlheber were both arrested Tuesday morning as part of a criminal probe into the incident by the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division. Their warrants say both were under the influence of alcohol during the Sept. 28 incident.
SLED was tasked with investigating after Squires, wearing a BCSO vest with khaki shorts and slip-on shoes, confronted a group of three boys walking through the Squiresgate neighborhood that evening. Believing the teens had a gun, Squires ordered them to the ground and had several neighbors restrain them on the pavement. Police did not find a firearm in the teens’ possession.
The lawsuit was filed in Beaufort County civil court Oct. 22 by Joseph and Lauren Pepitone, the father and mother of one of the three boys involved. Dominic Pepitone, the boy’s 19-year-old brother who rushed to help the teens and was also restrained, is also a plaintiff.
It shares much of the same language with a federal lawsuit filed Oct. 10 by the mother of another boy involved. Both suits involve accusations of assault, excessive force, false imprisonment, illegal search and seizure and multiple violations of BCSO policies and constitutional rights.
Some new claims are included. For instance, the second lawsuit alleges that after the encounter, responding deputies first went to help the intoxicated Squires “and had him chug water.”
‘All Hell broke loose’
Court documents describe the events that thousands saw unfold in a set of viral videos: Squires pointed his loaded service pistol at the teens and threatened to shoot, grabbing one boy by the arm and struggling with him in the roadway. The off-duty deputy and other neighbors claimed the boys had a gun, although no weapon was found by police.
Arrest warrants from SLED say Stahlheber, who had previously approached the teens on an ATV asking why they were in the neighborhood, had told Squires he thought the boys had a gun. Stahlheber told responding deputies one teen had flashed an extended handgun magazine, but the neighbor later admitted in an interview he only “assumed” they had one “based on posturing of the teen,” the documents say. The new lawsuit says Stahlheber “accosted” the teens and filmed them while unlawfully driving a four-wheeler on a public street. He then left to tell Squires about the situation.
“All Hell broke loose” as Squires arrived and confronted the teens. Stahlheber returned to the area “to aide and abet the vicious assaults and civil rights violations” conducted by Squires and his “mob,” according to the lawsuit.
The lawsuit does not specify the amount of damages being sought. Court documents ask for additional compensation for loss of consortium and emotional distress.
Squires’ actions caused “serious physical and psychological trauma” to the underage son and his 19-year-old brother. Lauren Pepitone came across the scene and witnessed her two sons “being physically assaulted and mentally abused by a wild-eyed pistol waving intoxicated deputy,” the lawsuit says.
Court documents also claim Squires pointed his gun at Lauren Pepitone and commanded her to “walk away,” violating her constitutional rights to question the deputy about his actions.
