Hilton Head man arrested after bloody Circle K ‘mob attack’ near Coligny Beach Park
A New Year’s Day traffic stop led to the arrest of a Hilton Head Island man in connection with a bloody beating outside a Coligny-area convenience store last fall. The second suspect remains unidentified, according to the Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office.
Austin Radel, 39, was charged Wednesday with third-degree assault and battery by mob, driving under suspension and public disorderly conduct, according to Beaufort County jail records. South Carolina statute defines a “mob” as a group of two or more people who commit a premeditated act of violence.
Radel’s burgundy Mercedes was pulled over just after 10 p.m. Wednesday for unlawfully changing lanes near the intersection of U.S. 278 and Whooping Crane Way, located near the Hilton Head Island Airport. He claimed not to have his license, registration or insurance and told the deputy “he didn’t see a reason he needed to exit the vehicle,” according to an incident report from the Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office.
After the arresting deputy unbuckled the driver’s seat belt and “assisted him out of his vehicle,” Radel reportedly grew angry and cursed at the deputy as he was detained.
The deputy discovered Radel had an active arrest warrant for assault stemming from the August 2024 attack and his license had been suspended Dec. 25 for failing to pay a traffic ticket, the incident report says.
Police respond to the ‘mob attack’
The attack occurred the night of Aug. 30 at the Circle K gas station on Lagoon Road, located a quarter-mile from Coligny Beach Park. A deputy approached a 45-year-old islander with a 1-inch gash near his eye, noting “there was too much blood on his face to determine where everything came from.”
The man told police he was walking his bicycle in front of the gas station when two men approached him. One grabbed his bike and said “I just wanna talk to ya” while the other repeated the question “You remember me?” in a raised voice, according to the original polic report.
One of the men then struck the bicyclist, bringing him to the ground in front of the store, he told police. The pair began punching and kicking him.
A witness outside the Circle K told the deputy he saw the victim being attacked by two white males, with one shoving him to the ground and the other delivering closed punches and a “soccer ball kick” to the man’s face. He tried yelling at the men to stop but eventually had to pull away the primary aggressor to put an end to the assault, the report says.
Surveillance footage from the Circle K cameras corroborated the version of events detailed by the victim and witness. The video showed the two suspects exiting a red Ford SUV and “congregating for a short period” in the parking lot before driving away, later returning on foot to assault the man. After the man was pushed to the ground, one of the attackers was seen punching him multiple times before delivering three “deliberate power kicks” to his head, the deputy wrote.
The victim told police the attack was likely fueled by a “joke or comment” he made to one of the suspects’ romantic partners about eight months prior. He reportedly had not seen the man again until that night.
Radel was released from jail on a $5,000 surety bond Monday, five days after his arrest. In Beaufort County, he was previously convicted of shoplifting, public disorderly conduct and open container.
Third-degree assault and battery by mob is a misdemeanor punishable by up to a year in prison under South Carolina law.
Sheriff’s office investigators were attempting to interview Radel in hopes of learning the second suspect’s identity, according to department spokesperson Master Sgt. Danny Allen. A second arrest had not been made as of Tuesday.
