‘In a drunken rage’ this man slashed tires in a Hilton Head gated community

Living in or visiting one of Hilton Head Island’s exclusive communities doesn’t mean you’ve left minor crime behind.

A woman told a Beaufort County Sheriff’s deputy her ex-boyfriend slashed her tires and tried to smash her passenger side window when she wanted to leave his Palmetto Hall residence on Nov. 19.

The incident was among about a dozen investigated by deputies in communities across the island between Nov. 13 and Nov. 19, according to incident reports provided to The Island Packet and The Beaufort Gazette under the state Freedom of Information Act.

Besides car vandalism, reports included suspicious activity and a dog-biting incident.

Here’s some of what happened in those communities, according to reports.

Palmetto Hall Plantation

The woman who reported her car vandalized said her ex-boyfriend became angry when she wanted to leave his Fort Howell Drive home. “In a drunken rage,” he slashed the passenger side tires of her white Audi A5 and scratched the car’s paint with a knife.

She said he also tried to smash the passenger side window. The vandalism occurred between 1 a.m. and 1:40 a.m., according to the report.

The woman said her ex-boyfriend had been violent with her in the past. She was unsure if she wanted to press charges.

The responding officer noted that both passenger side tires were flat, the passenger window had a round impact mark the size of a softball, and a broken ashtray and cigarette butts were on the ground near the passenger side.

Photos of the damage were submitted as evidence. The ex-boyfriend was not present and could not be reached by telephone, according to the report.

Hilton Head Plantation

On Nov. 18, a couple walking their two dogs on Purple Martin Lane was approached by a large white dog. The dogs began growling and trying to bite one another.

The man attempted to grab his dog by the collar, and was bitten on the hand by the white dog. He became tangled in the leashes of his dogs and fell, breaking his iPhone.

He said he wanted the incident documented because the owner of the white dog refused to give him $1000 to repair the damaged phone.

A Beaufort County Sheriff’s Deputy spoke with the owner of the white dog, who said the animal must have run through the electric fence in her yard to get to the other dogs. She said the dog was up to date on shots and had never done this before.

The man was told how to pursue civil action.

Palmetto Dunes Resort

An employee of AT&T on Shelter Cove Lane said a customer had stopped in the store everyday for a week and a half, bringing another employee gifts and asking her out to dinner. Only two visits were related to the man’s phone service.

The woman told the man she could not his accept gifts, which included coffee, smoothies, and Build-a-Bear Workshop gift cards. He continued to bring them. She said he made her uncomfortable and that she did not want him to return to the store.

The man was asked to use the Bluffton AT&T office instead, but he returned to the Shelter Cove store and refused to leave on Nov. 15. Deputies were then called.

The man was issued a trespass after notice form, which means he could not return to the store.

This story was originally published December 1, 2017 at 10:30 AM with the headline "‘In a drunken rage’ this man slashed tires in a Hilton Head gated community."