A baby gate and other objects were thrown around a Port Royal apartment as a small child watched some of the fighting between his mom and her boyfriend, a Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office deputy, according to a newly released police report.
That night, around 9 p.m., officers responded to a report of domestic disturbance at Preserve at Port Royal Apartments. There, they found Scott outside waiting for them to arrive, according to a Port Royal Police Department report.
Inside the apartment, officers found a broken baby gate, pieces from radio equipment and other items that were believed to have been thrown or overturned.
Police interviewed both Scott and his girlfriend, who live in the apartment. The responding deputy wrote in the report that they both “appeared to be intoxicated to some degree.”
Jacob Scott Beaufort County Detention Center
The initial investigation
Scott’s girlfriend told officers that he threw a baby gate at her and, as the argument continued, picked her up and “threw her to the floor several times, causing rug burns to her elbows,” the report said. It said he “hyper-extended her arms behind her back, ‘like cops do when they arrest somebody,’ which caused her pain.”
She alleged in the report that Scott had shoved her and threatened her in the past.
The woman admitted to throwing the baby gate at Scott, kicking him and slapping him, the report said.
According to the report, the woman’s 2-year-old child was in the apartment, but she told officers she put him in a bedroom “when it became violent.”
When EMS arrived, the woman refused medical treatment.
The night of the incident, Scott told officers he pushed his girlfriend away when she “came at (him)“ but did not feel threatened, the report said. He told them that she was throwing things but didn’t know whether any of the objects struck him.
“She got mad, and she was raising hell,” Scott told police. “I tried to get her off me.”
The report said that, based on Scott’s size — he’s about 90 pounds larger — and his experience as a law enforcement officer, he was arrested.
Days after the incident, the woman told officers she wanted to recant her statement and drop the charges. She told them “they probably should have both gone to jail,” a supplemental report said.
As of Tuesday morning, court records show Scott was still charged with second-degree domestic violence, which is a misdemeanor in South Carolina. The Island Packet and Beaufort Gazette newspapers do not typically name those charged with misdemeanor crimes but are doing so in this case because Scott holds a position of public trust.
Scott has not had prior domestic violence convictions.
Scott has returned to the Sheriff’s Office working “limited duty” at headquarters, spokesperson Maj. Bob Bromage told The Island Packet Tuesday morning. Bromage said the internal investigation has concluded, but details of the findings could not be released because of the pending criminal case.
Lana Ferguson typically covers stories in northern Beaufort County, Jasper County and Hampton County. She joined The Island Packet & Beaufort Gazette in 2018 as a crime/breaking news reporter. Before coming to the Lowcountry, she worked for publications in her home state of Virginia and graduated from the University of Mississippi, where she was editor-in-chief of the daily student newspaper. Lana was also a fellow at the University of South Carolina’s Media Law School in 2019.Support my work with a digital subscription
