Suspect took deputy’s taser during arrest in Sun City, police say
A man allegedly grabbed a deputy’s taser as police struggled to detain him during his arrest in Sun City Hilton Head on Monday, according to the Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office.
Brian Hamilton Bodkin Jr., 34, of Okatie, was charged early Tuesday morning with unlawfully taking a weapon from police, resisting arrest and third-degree assault and battery. He was released from the Beaufort County jail that afternoon on cash bonds totaling $10,000, court records show.
Police were called to a home on Thomas Bee Drive around 9:30 p.m. Monday over a reported physical altercation between Bodkin and his parents, whom he lived with in Sun City, a sprawling 55-plus gated community in Beaufort and Jasper counties.
Bodkin had allegedly grabbed his mother by the arms and shook her and, after his father struck Bodkin with a baseball bat in self-defense, he allegedly knocked his dad to the ground and punched him in the head multiple times, an incident report says.
One of the first deputies on scene held Bodkin at gunpoint outside the home, according to the report, which says the suspect went on to repeatedly disobey police’s orders and resist arrest. With the help of multiple deputies, Bodkin was tackled to the ground and handcuffed, the report says.
As Bodkin was led to a police car, he “became physically resistive with deputies, fighting us while handcuffed,” the report says. Deputies reportedly pushed him onto a car hood and, “during the struggle,” Bodkin allegedly grabbed a deputy’s taser from his holster.
“Realizing the threat that (Bodkin) now possessed,” one deputy “delivered hard strikes” to his side in an effort to get the taser out of his grip, the report says.
Police eventually retrieved the weapon and proceeded with Bodkin’s arrest. The incident report does not note the taser being deployed or any deputies being injured, although Bodkin’s father reportedly went to the hospital for his injuries from the alleged assault.
Under South Carolina law, taking a firearm or other weapon from a police officer is a felony punishable by up to five years in prison or a $5,000 fine.
This story was originally published February 4, 2026 at 3:26 PM.
