Man treated at hospital after being beaten with a branch in Hilton Head neighborhood

A man who picked up a tree branch to defend himself during a road rage incident Saturday lost his make-shift weapon to his attacker, who then beat him with it, according to a Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office report.

The incident happened about 10:45 a.m. as the victim walked down Gum Tree Road on Hilton Head Island. The man was walking toward Chinaberry Drive when a U-Haul truck pulled up and blocked the crosswalk, the report said. The man said he didn’t say anything and walked behind the truck to cross the road.

The truck turned in the same direction the man was walking. The victim said he could hear the driver yelling things at him, the report said. The man continued walking until the U-Haul truck made a u-turn, came back toward him and parked in a driveway. That’s when the driver got out, the report said.

The man grabbed a nearby tree branch in an attempt to scare the driver off, but the driver punched the man in the center of the chest, took the tree branch and struck the man several times in the head, arms, right side, and back, the report said. He also scraped both his knees when he fell to the ground.

Bystanders yelled at the driver to stop hitting the man. He did before getting back into the U-Haul and driving away, the report said.

The man was transported to Hilton Head Hospital for treatment, the report said.

This story was originally published August 6, 2018 at 3:38 PM.