Beaufort Co. deputy forgot gun in patrol car. It was stolen, and he has to pay up
A Beaufort County Sheriff’s deputy is being disciplined after his duty rifle was stolen from his patrol car in August, according to a report.
Sgt. Christopher McIntosh’s “failure to remove his issued patrol rifle at the end of his shift contributed to it being stolen when his patrol vehicle was broken into,” according to a command inquiry report obtained by a Freedom of Information request.
McIntosh is now required to pay the agency back nearly $1,000 for the stolen items: a Colt M4 Carbine Patrol Rifle, three fully loaded magazines of ammunition, and a spare uniform.
At 3 a.m. on Aug. 14, two unknown suspects were seen on security camera footage breaking the back windshield of McIntosh’s patrol car and then helping themselves to what was inside. McIntosh’s car was parked outside of his home in Bluffton.
The report states McIntosh didn’t notice the damage until he was at a Parker’s gas station later in the day, when “a citizen approached him and told him the back window of his patrol vehicle was broken out.”
McIntosh then notified the Sheriff’s Office, and a Bluffton police officer arrived to make a report.
He told a Sheriff’s investigator he forgot to take his rifle out of his car at the end of his shift three days before, the command inquiry states.
Deputies are required to bring their firearms to a safe spot inside their homes and can leave weapons in their car only if they have a device to secure them inside, according to the agency’s policies.
In 2016, Sheriff P.J. Tanner instituted a rule forbidding deputies from leaving guns in their personal vehicles while off duty. That came about after two members of Tanner’s command staff, including Deputy Sheriff Michael Hatfield, had firearms stolen out of their cars.
