Woman jumps from car after armed man drives her around Beaufort County, report says
A woman jumped from a moving vehicle Sunday evening to escape her on-again-off-again boyfriend who was armed with a handgun and refused to take her home, according to a Beaufort County Sheriff's Office report.
A deputy was sent to the Okatie Burger King on Commerce Place to find the victim was with Jasper County Sheriff's Office deputies, the report said. She told the deputy that her boyfriend, the father of her child, had taken her vehicle without permission and driven around with her while holding a pistol. She said that she initially allowed the man to use her vehicle for the day and that she keeps her loaded 9mm pistol inside the vehicle. The man, she said, was supposed to return the vehicle after she got off work, but the two exchanged angry text messages about "each other sleeping with different people," the report said.
When he returned the car, he allegedly would not let her drive it, so she got in the car with him and asked him to take her home. As she got in the vehicle, the woman said she saw her pistol in the man's pocket, the report said. She said he appeared to be intoxicated.
He accused her of sleeping with his father and cousin, the report said.
"(The woman) got out of the vehicle and back in several times during this time period and (the man) was carrying the pistol, holding it by his side," the report said.
The woman said she repeatedly asked the man to take her home as he drove around the area. He eventually drove toward the woman's residence on Old Baileys Road, the report said.
The woman said the man pulled over at an Okatie area store and went inside. When he returned, she "demanded" again to be taken home and that she "wanted her pistol back."
The man told her he didn't trust her with it before he allegedly removed the magazine from the pistol and the bullet from the chamber, and placed it on the dash in front of her.
As he began to drive again onto Okatie Highway, the woman reached for the unloaded firearm and the two fought over it.
She told deputies that the car slowed enough for her to jump from the vehicle and that a passing motorist stopped to help as she flagged down Jasper County deputies in the area.
The woman was uninjured.
A deputy wrote that the man involved is a convicted felon on an assault and battery charge with intent to kill from 1992, and that he is not allowed to possess a firearm. The man also has an active arrest warrant from the Bluffton Police Department for first-degree domestic violence and is on parole.
The deputy attempted to contact the man over the phone several times, but could not reach him. The department put out a BOLO for his arrest on a breach of trust with a vehicle charge.
No arrest was listed in the report. No record of the man's arrest had been entered in the Beaufort County Detention Center as of 1 p.m. on Tuesday.
This story was originally published June 5, 2018 at 1:19 PM with the headline "Woman jumps from car after armed man drives her around Beaufort County, report says."