Shootings, overdoses, assaults: Hilton Head gives bar 30 days to cut down on crime
The Town of Hilton Head has given a local bar 30 days to reduce crime after a series of violent incidents over the last two years.
Town Manager Steve Riley sent Mickey’s Pub and Grill owner Paul Townsend a letter Wednesday about recent criminal complaints at the business, according to town staff attorney Brian Hulbert.
The letter, obtained by the Island Packet through a Freedom of Information request, states that Mickey’s has not been declared a “public nuisance” officially, but warns Townsend he is responsible for “activity that results in calls to service to the Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office,” both inside the property and in the parking lot.
Riley asked Townsend to provide “adequate security” and take “adequate steps” to prevent the types of violations that have been reported to the Town by the Sheriff’s Office.
In a recent interview, Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office spokesperson Capt. Bob Bromage said his office provided the town with a series of incident reports to review under the Public Nuisance Ordinance.
“The seriousness of the incidents concern us,” Bromage said.
The bar has been the scene of at least 45 incidents in which deputies responded since January of 2017.
According to Hulbert, the Sheriff’s Office submitted a letter to the town, along with two years worth of incident reports on Feb. 1 — just five days after three people overdosed at Mickey’s at the same time.
When a reporter called the number listed for Mickey’s, a man — who did not identify himself — said the crime is happening in the plaza’s parking lot rather than inside his bar.
“Everything that took place took place in the parking lot and I don’t own the plaza,” he said. “It’s not my parking lot. I don’t own it. Most of them never came into my establishment.”
The man hung up before the reporter could ask further questions. He hung up again when the reporter called back a second time.
Shootings, drugs, and assaults
The Island Packet reviewed all Sheriff’s Office reports documenting incidents at Mickey’s that occurred from January 2017 to January 2019.
The 45 reports detail years of gun violence, fights, drug abuse, and other criminal activity. Four assault and battery incidents were reported within five months in 2017.
On March 28, 2018, three people were shot when a man opened fire in the bar’s parking lot.
A cook at the bar was shot in both legs, another man was shot in the face, and a woman had a graze bullet wound to her neck.
Sheriff P.J. Tanner had previously said the shooting could be connected to the shooting death of Rockiem Graham, 29, of Hilton Head Island, that occurred the same night, a prior Packet article said.
On May 19, 2018, someone anonymously called police to report that two men were selling drugs in the Mickey’s parking lot.
When deputies approached the car, one man ran and threw a bag and black rifle over a fence before escaping. As deputies tried to detain the second man, he escaped, too.
In the report, the deputy wrote that the bar’s owner “explained people frequently park in his parking lot, consume alcohol and engage in suspicious behavior.”
In October 2018, a video of a man pummeling another man at the bar during its Halloween party garnered thousands of views on YouTube. The two were apparently fighting over a T-shirt.
The minute-and-a-half-long video shows the attacker punching a man in the face, causing him to fall to the ground, then continue to push, punch, and kick the man.
Most recently, on January 27, 2019, three men overdosed on the cocaine they were sharing inside the bar, a Sheriff’s Office report said.
One of the men told deputies he saw a group of people he did not know passing around the cocaine and “partook.” The second man was “hanging out” and did two “lines” when he was offered some of the drug. The third said he took a “bump,” the report said.
All three men said that after consuming the cocaine, they woke up in the hospital or with EMS personnel surrounding them.
What happens next?
Under municipal code, any property where patrons or owners’ actions result in frequent calls to service to law enforcement during a relatively short period of time may be declared a public nuisance.
Specifically, the town can rule a business to be a “public nuisance” if law enforcement officers respond to three or more calls for serious violations within any six-month period, or four or more serious violations within a 12-month period. Serious violations include assault, battery, and incidents “that tend to cause injury to a person.”
If Mickey’s is ruled a public nuisance after 30 days, the town could then suspend its business license, Hulbert said. Townsend could then appeal the suspension to Town Council, which would make the final decision on the business.
In 2010, this happened to Club Prana, which closed down after it was ruled a public nuisance for causing an “excessive” amount of calls to service, according to previous Island Packet reporting.
This story was originally published February 28, 2019 at 3:51 PM.
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