Oyster bed wrestling match: Cops - 1, suspect - 0

Port Royal Police clamped down on a 37-year-old St. Helena Island man who leapt from the back of a cruiser, dove into the Beaufort River and was recaptured after a wrestling match with officers in an oyster bed on Sunday.

The man, already under arrest for allegedly shoplifting items from the Citgo service station on Ribaut Road, was in the back of the cruiser when he appeared to faint, according to a report from the Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office. When the officer went to get a stretcher, the suspect ran from the car and made a beeline for the river.

The officer jumped in after him and a brief struggle followed.

A second officer from the nearby Sheriff’s Office Marine Patrol Unit then jumped in to offer a hand with the slippery subject.

The struggle took all three into an oyster bed where the sharp shells left the suspect and the officers with minor injuries. The man - “somewhat under control” - was then brought aboard the Marine Unit’s boat, the release said.

The suspect faces charges of shoplifting, fleeing to evade arrest and resisting arrest, the release said.

He was treated at Beaufort Memorial Hospital and taken to the Beaufort County Detention Center, where he awaits a bond hearing, the release said.

This story was originally published June 20, 2016 at 9:17 AM with the headline "Oyster bed wrestling match: Cops - 1, suspect - 0."