How often are Beaufort County drivers charged in road rage incidents? Here’s a look
This story has been updated
Tysha Brown of Hilton Head had no criminal record before her Saturday morning commute across the island. But by noon that day, police charged her with attempted murder, accusing her of running over a man twice in a parking lot along U.S. 278.
Beaufort County deputies say Saturday’s alleged assault, like other local cases, was fueled by road rage. These retaliatory attacks between enraged drivers aren’t uncommon, local data shows — and sometimes end in criminal charges.
Not including the weekend incident, the sheriff’s office has written at least 10 reports involving road rage since April 2022, said spokesperson Maj. Angela Viens. Only three recent incidents resulted in criminal charges.
▪ A man’s trip to visit family on Hilton Head in May 2022 ended with charges of unlawfully carrying a pistol and pointing and presenting a firearm. Police said the 21-year-old driver threw a water bottle and pointed a handgun at a car driving next to him along S.C. 170 in Okatie, according to the police report.
▪ In July 2022, a woman faced criminal charges after allegedly hitting a man with her car. The man told police he tried confronting her on Boundary Street after he followed her there from Trask Parkway. The woman was charged with assault and battery of a high and aggravated nature, failure to stop for a blue light, two counts of leaving the scene of an accident, and two counts of driving under the influence.
▪ In a Dec. 15 2022 incident, a 33-year-old Georgia man was charged with first-degree assault and battery for allegedly pulling out a gun on a woman while both drivers were stopped at a Bluffton traffic light, according to previous reporting from The Island Packet and Beaufort Gazette.
The charges in all three cases are pending, court records show.
Even in cases that did not lead to criminal charges, witness statements reaffirmed the presence of road-rage violence on Beaufort County roads.
On Dec. 19, after receiving a call reporting a fight at a Lady’s Island shopping center, deputies arrived to find a man “bleeding profusely” from his face, one police report says. Although he did not pursue charges, the man told police he and another man had pulled into the parking lot to fight after one driver crashed into the other.
Local road rage has even led to a recent report of high-speed vandalism.
On Feb. 28, a Hilton Head woman told police she was driving on Cross Island Parkway when she allowed a man driving a Harley motorcycle to merge in front of her. The motorcyclist became enraged, suddenly “attacking her vehicle” — batting at her front bumper, pushing in her mirror and striking at the driver-side door before speeding away toward Spanish Wells Road, she told police.
Fistfights and property damage aside, a majority of recent road-rage incidents involved drivers flashing weapons at other travelers.
On Sept. 17, a Burton man told police a man driving a Toyota beside him on Laurel Bay Road stuck a firearm out the window after he “brake checked” the truck.
In December, a Hilton Head couple said an angry driver lifted up his shirt to reveal a knife at them before walking into the Bluffton Lowe’s. Although charges were not pursued, police traced the suspect’s license plate number to a Hilton Head man, who had been involved in a similar incident earlier that year.
Viens said the area’s rapid growth has left Beaufort County roads busier than ever. These stressful conditions are heightened on Hilton Head, where locals contend with seasonal tourists and events like the RBC Heritage Golf tournament that bring a lot of vehicles onto the island.
“It tests our patience every day,” Viens said of growing traffic in the county. “I think that sometimes it may cause our tempers to fester a bit.”
Viens advised Beaufort County travelers to never pull over to meet or argue with antagonistic drivers — this often ends in a physical confrontation, she said. Drivers who feel they might be in danger of a road-rage attack should call 911 and stay on the phone with the dispatcher while navigating to a local police station or safe public area.
