Hilton Head woman allegedly slipped out of handcuff, attacked police during DUI arrest
After her arrest for allegedly driving under the influence with two infants in the backseat, a 26-year-old woman slipped one hand out of her handcuffs and assaulted Bluffton officers, according to police.
The suspect from Hilton Head Island was charged Saturday night with DUI and child endangerment, inmate records show. The latter offense, applied when a driver has a passenger younger than 16 during certain alleged traffic violations, can increase penalties for a DUI conviction under South Carolina law.
An officer pulled over the woman in her Toyota SUV around 11 p.m. Saturday after noticing the car driving unusually slowly — 39 mph on Fording Island Road, where the speed limit is 55 mph — and “nearly striking” other cars as it failed to maintain its lane, according to a Bluffton Police Department incident report.
The officer noted the woman and her car smelled strongly of alcohol. The report says she appeared “unsteady on her feet” and refused to perform field sobriety tests, prompting police to arrest her for suspected DUI.
How she removed the handcuffs
As police tried placing her into a patrol vehicle, the report says, the woman became “combative” and allegedly began flailing and kicking officers.
Once she was in the police car, the woman “maneuvered the handcuffs underneath her legs” to the front of her body and slipped one hand out of the handcuffs, using them to strike the plexiglass barrier separating the front and rear of the patrol vehicle, according to the incident report.
After police removed her from the vehicle and tried to restrain her again, the woman allegedly began swinging the unsecured half of the handcuffs and kicking officers, the report says. One officer reported being kicked in the throat and his colleague being kicked in the chest.
Officers eventually controlled the woman and used two sets of handcuffs to restrain her in the patrol car, the police report says.
Could cocaine possession charges be next?
The woman refused to submit a breath sample at the Beaufort County Detention Center, the incident report says, and jail staff allegedly found a small bag of a “powdery white substance” during her strip search. An officer noted in the report he would be pursuing a charge of cocaine possession pending laboratory results.
The suspect’s mother took custody of the two infants in the SUV, according to the police report.
Jail rosters show the woman remained in custody as of Wednesday morning. She was granted personal recognizance bonds totaling about $1,500 on Sunday, according to Beaufort County court records.
The Island Packet and Beaufort Gazette do not publish the names of individuals who were charged with misdemeanor crimes unless the accused is a public figure or if revealing their name is a matter of public interest.
