An ‘Australian’ accent insult started this Hilton Head grocery store fight

The altercation had been a long time coming, the man told a deputy, who documented the interview with him in a Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office report Sunday.

That night he told the deputy he’d been working at the Hilton Head Island Bi-Lo on Pope Avenue for more than a month, and that a coworker had “bullied” him several times during that period.

According to the report, he told the deputy that he’d had enough and, around 8 p.m. Sunday, near a check-out line in Bi-Lo, “went after (that coworker) and hit him several times before leaving the store and returning to his hotel.”

His coworker had insulted his teeth, which set him off, according to the report. He told the deputy that the coworker had “made fun of him being short, dumb and not having any teeth on numerous occasions.”

He said he told Bi-Lo management about the insults several times, according to the report.

A manager, who told deputies he did not witness the incident, said the man had reported “verbal insults” to him. The manager said he’d asked the coworker to stay away from the man and leave him alone “again seconds before the assault took place.”

The coworker was talking in an “Australian” accent moments before the incident, according to the report. The man said he’d told his coworker that the accent “was bad, and if an Australian heard it they would punch him in the face,” according to the man’s statement to the deputy.

Referring to the punch, his coworker then asked the man “if that’s what happened to his teeth,” the man said.

Another witness told deputies she saw the coworker “acting (goofy) as usual, and talking with accent,” then “say something about (the man) not having any teeth ... .”

Store video surveillance footage shows the coworker, who was at his bagging station, talking to the man, who was operating a nearby cash register, according to the report. The man left his register and struck his coworker “in the head with several punches.” The man landed “several more blows” as his coworker tried to retreat.

In the report, the deputy said he would follow up with Bi-Lo management to see if the man “had reported previous incidents ... causing a hostile work environment.”

The deputy planned to present the information to a judge to see if there was probable cause for an arrest, the report said.

This story was originally published January 19, 2018 at 5:36 AM with the headline "An ‘Australian’ accent insult started this Hilton Head grocery store fight."