Hardeeville man charged after attacking woman Saturday at Bluffton gas station, police say
Editor’s Note: This story was originally published on Sunday, Jan. 22, 2023, and was updated Tuesday, Jan. 24, 2023, to include additional charges.
Police have accused a Hardeeville man of aggravated assault after they say he attacked his girlfriend in the parking lot of a Bluffton gas station Saturday morning.
Leonard Brown, 35, was charged with assault and battery of a high and aggravated nature and kidnapping, jail records show.
Deputies were called out to the Enmarket gas station on Island West Park around 5:30 a.m., after a woman walked into the convenience store with severe facial injuries, according to Maj. Angela Viens, a spokesperson with the Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office. Employees at the store pointed police toward a truck in the parking lot where Brown and at least one other person were waiting.
Police charged Brown with kidnapping because he allegedly did not allow the woman to leave the car, Viens said.
The woman told police that she had been with her boyfriend, Brown, and one other person when her boyfriend got angry with her. The woman did not remember what had started the argument, police reported. Viens said Brown attacked the woman in the backseat of the truck. Police went outside to question the two men in the car, who then tried to get away before police stopped them and they were charged.
The third person involved in the incident was charged with failure to stop for a blue light and fleeing to evade arrest, jail records show.
Additional charges stemming from the incident are possible, Viens said.
As of Tuesday, Brown was still in custody at the Beaufort County Detention Center. The third person involved in the incident who was driving the truck was released Sunday morning.
This story was originally published January 22, 2023 at 11:20 AM.
