Man faces felony charges after New Year’s Day domestic dispute on Hilton Head, police say
A man was charged with felony domestic violence Sunday after police accused him of biting and choking a family member on Hilton Head, according to the Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office.
Thomas Mootry, 40, of Varnville, South Carolina, was charged with first-degree domestic violence, jail records show.
Police were called to Southwood Park Drive at about 12:45 a.m. on Jan. 1 for a domestic violence call, said Maj. Angela Viens, a spokesperson for the Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office. When they got there, Mootry’s family member said that they came home from work earlier in the night after getting a call from children at the home claiming that Mootry had been drinking. When the family member arrived, they asked him to leave.
He did, police said in a report of the incident, but returned later that night. An argument broke out and Mootry allegedly choked the family member and bit them on the face. Another family member who was getting home at the time saw the incident through the open front door and intervened, hitting Mootry with a television set that was nearby. The two were able to get away from Mootry and called police, according to the report.
Mootry told police that he had been arguing with the first family member but that things only got physical when he got into a “small tussle” with the second family member and claimed he was the one “attacked.”
Mootry was charged because the family member’s injuries were consistent with what they were reporting.
Mootry was in custody Tuesday at the detention center.
This story was originally published January 3, 2023 at 4:40 PM.
