Uber driver flashes gun outside Hilton Head Enmarket to break up dispute, cops say
An Uber driver outside a Hilton Head Island gas station was arrested over the holiday weekend for allegedly pointing a pistol at two patrons who were involved in a dispute with the store’s clerk.
Michael Patrick Dewitt, 55, was charged early Sunday with two counts of pointing and presenting a firearm, a felony punishable by up to five years in prison under South Carolina law.
Four Beaufort County deputies responded just before midnight to an Enmarket convience store on Palmetto Bay Road (U.S. 278), steps away from the Sea Pines traffic circle on southern Hilton Head.
The gas station clerk, a 43-year-old man from the Beaufort area, told police he was helping a customer when three “intoxicated younger males” entered the store. One of the males was especially inebriated and began speaking to the female customer, “presumably harassing” her, the clerk was quoted saying in an incident report from the Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office.
As the clerk escorted the male out of the store, the male “aggressively pulled the door out of his hand” and shoved him, the employee told police. The clerk then dialed 911, he said.
That brief squabble was witnessed by Dewitt, who said he was parked by the gas station as he drove for Uber that night. He told police he pointed his pistol out the open car door after he saw the other two males “walking towards (the clerk) as if they were going to possibly attack him,” according to the police report.
Dewitt “was honest” with police in his statement, deputies noted, saying he only held the pistol “near the window” so the males would stop. He told police he was “concerned” for his own safety and that of the clerk, whom he knew from previous visits from the Enmarket.
Deputies later interviewed the three males who were found in a parking lot across the street. One showed officers a cellphone video he took of Dewitt sitting in his car, arm “fully extended” through the open car door as he pointed a pistol “directly” at his friend’s head, according to the incident report. All three males told police they wished to pursue charges.
The police report noted Dewitt was “very understanding and cooperative” during his arrest. He was released Sunday from the Beaufort County Detention Center on a $15,000 personal recognizance bond, meaning he would not be required to post bail unless he violated court conditions.
Dewitt’s arrest is one of dozens across Beaufort County that have not been publicly viewable for the past 3 weeks via the detention center’s online inmate inquiry system. The county-run website stopped updating with new inmate data June 17 due to technical difficulties stemming from updates to law enforcement’s records management software.
Beaufort County judicial records did not list a lawyer or public defender for Dewitt as of Thursday afternoon.
This story was originally published July 10, 2025 at 4:04 PM.
