Master Sgt. William Squires pointed service firearm at teens while off duty, allegedly under influence of alcohol
By Mike McCombs
The Island News
A Beaufort County Sheriff’s deputy that pointed his service firearm at a group of Hilton Head Island teenagers on Sunday, Sept. 28, while off duty and allegedly under the influence of alcohol, has been fired by the Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office (BCSO).
Master Sgt. William “Billy” Squires, a 19-year veteran of the BCSO and a member of the Violent Crimes Task Force, was terminated Friday morning.
“William Squires was brought in this morning at 9, and his classification now, he is terminated from the Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office for a variety of policy violations,” Beaufort County Sheriff P.J. Tanner told the news media just after 11 a.m. at the BCSO Headquarters on Bay Street in Beaufort. “He is no longer an employee of the Sheriff’s Office.”
The video
Squires, was officially identified for the first time Friday, though many on social media and several media outlets had shared his identity. He became infamous thanks to a now-viral video that began to be shared across social media late Sunday night, resulting in shock and anger, both in Beaufort County and elsewhere.
The video showed Squires approaching several young teenage boys while pointing his gun at them and screaming for them to get on the ground.
He was dressed in civilian clothing, shorts and a dark shirt with dark slip-on shoes, his BCSO tactical vest and body camera. He had his weapon holster on his hip.
When they do not immediately comply, he proceeds to grab one of the boys by the shirt and tries to kick his legs out from under him, as the boy and his friends scream in fear and yell for someone to help them and to call the police.
At one point, one of the boys can be seen attempting to push the deputy while the deputy holds his friend, at which point the deputy draws his weapon again, points it at the boys and says, “I will shoot you.”
The video ends with more screaming from the boys as they yell for their moms, for help and a question that was asked several times during the video but never answered, “What the [expletive] did we do?”
BCSO response
According to Tanner on Friday, the BCSO communications center received numerous calls around 6:45 p.m., Sunday evening about an ongoing incident in the Squiresgate community on Hilton Head Island ranging from a shots fired call to a disturbance call.
When deputies arrived, they found Squires dressed in some of his BCSO equipment – his tactical vest and body-worn camera, his service weapon, his badge, and a radio. They also encountered several teenage boys.
While deputies tried to determine what had happened, they summoned Command Duty Officer Lt. Craig Washington to the scene for assistance. According to Tanner, he began unraveling a situation that was “very concerning.”
Tanner said Washington first contacted him a little after 8 p.m., and began to relay information to him. He told Washington to keep calling with updates and estimated he likely spoke with Washington five times that evening.
Toward the end of the evening, Tanner said Washington relayed concerns that Squires was under the influence of alcohol.
“Based on the information that I got around the 9 o’clock hour, … knowing that he was off duty and knowing that he was suspected of consuming alcohol, and he was armed and he was wearing our tactical vest, it was time,” Tanner said. “[I said] let’s find out what his blood alcohol level is.”
Tanner said he gave Washington a direct order around 9:30 p.m. to take Squires directly to the BCSO location on Hilton Head Island for a breathalyzer test.
When Squires refused to consent to the breathalyzer test, Washington was ordered to collect his credentials and weapons and Squires was suspended without pay at that point.
“That’s insubordination,” Tanner said. “That’s not tolerated. And we moved forward from there.”
Internal Affairs investigation
At this point, Tanner had not yet seen the now-viral video. He said would not see it until just after 5 a.m., Monday morning.
“I saw it for the first time, and honestly, I was appalled about what I saw,” Tanner said. “Knowing the officer, not really understanding the circumstances of what led up to the video … looking at the video, it was appalling to look at. I can also see how, the average citizen sees that video and just goes into shock as to what they see.”
Shortly after, on Monday, the BCSO began its Internal Affairs (IA) investigation, while the investigation to determine if there should be any criminal charges as a result of Sunday’s incident was opened by the South Carolina State Law Enforcement Division (SLED).
“The SLED investigation is appropriate because you really don’t want the same agency doing both investigations,” Tanner said. “When we do a policy investigation, we look at policies of the Sheriff’s Office. SLED is going to look at criminal violations. And they’ll report their findings to [the] solicitor.
According to Tanner, though there is one IA investigation and one supervisor’s inquiry on his record, along with several minor automobile incidents, Squires, who was hired on Sept. 11, 2006, has a fairly clean record for someone with 19 years service.
That being said, Tanner said it was clear Squires committed numerous policy violations.
“I can tell you, looking at it administratively, there are a host of policy violations,” he said. “Any and all, in combination or individually, would cause termination of the employee.”
According to Tanner, these are the BCSO policies Squires violated:
Code of Conduct: Failure to obey a lawful order by refusing to submit to the Datamaster;
Code of Conduct: Conducting himself in an unprofessional manner that did not project and support public respect and cooperation;
Code of Conduct: Being under the influence of alcohol in a public place with his judgment impaired, leading to actions which brought discredit and ill-repute upon the Sheriff’s Office;
Code of Conduct: Attempting or unlawful Arrest regarding a neighborhood dispute where there was no clear threat of bodily injury or death;
Code of Ethics: Failing to deal with the community in a manner that instills respect for law enforcement and inspires confidence and trust;
Off-Duty Firearms Policy: Consuming alcoholic beverages while armed in an off-duty capacity and presenting this firearm for an unlawful purpose, which was outside of compliance of the Sheriff’s Office Use Of Force policy;
Use of Force Policy: Using force, presentation of a firearm, soft-hand and empty-handed techniques against subjects without reasonable suspicion or probable cause;
Arrest and Detention Policy: Taking unlawful action by attempting to detain juveniles involved in a neighborhood dispute where he resides without independent justification known by him at the time;
Arrest and Detention Policy: Failing to contact the on-duty supervisor of the call and recusing himself from a law enforcement action;
Communications Policy: Failure to advise the communications center, which is our dispatch center, either by phone or radio, of what the event was; and
Body-Worn Camera Policy: “Once he put on that vest and started acting in the capacity of the on-duty officer, then he’s required to have the body camera on. He did not,” Tanner said. “The body camera was on the vest, but it was not activated.”
Tanner explained that it is the BCSO’s responsibility to determine which, if any, Sheriff’s Office policies Squires broke because in South Carolina, the certifications of law enforcement officers are actually owned by the Criminal Justice Academy (SCCJA) in Columbia. If a law enforcement officer’s transgressions are serious enough, a law enforcement agency may ask that his or her certification be revoked.
That happened in relation to Squires at 9 a.m., Friday morning, Tanner said.
Should Squires appeal a revocation of his certification, the general counsel of the BCSO is responsible for prosecuting that revocation at the SCCJA. The SCCJA Training Council would then render a final verdict on his revocation.
“That was our responsibility,” Tanner said.” And it continues to be our responsibility.”
Tanner said details from the IA investigation would be released after SLED completes its criminal investigation.
Going forward
Tanner said the public and the media would have to wait and see what SLED finds in it’s criminal investigation, but that he was under the impression it would turn it’s findings over to the 14th Circuit Solicitor’s Office by Thursday, Oct. 9.
“It’s very important that we do two separate investigations and it’s always best that two agencies are involved in that process,” he said.
Once that happens, it’s likely a grand jury will decide what charges, if any, should be brought against Squires.
Any questions involving the teenagers or the other adults involved in the incident will probably be answered by the SLED investigation, as well.
The Sheriff said he was unaware if SLED had interviewed the teenagers involved in the incident or their parents, but he said the BCSO had been unsuccessful in speaking with them.
“Their desire is not to talk with us,” he said.
Tanner said that, try as he may, he can’t explain why Squires acted the way he did. He knew him – “I hired him” – but not as well as many other deputies he works with, he said.
“Honestly, in my 45 years of law enforcement and almost 27 years of being Sheriff, nothing really surprises me. I mean I hate to say it that way, and I’m not downplaying this, but what I saw was horrible,” Tanner said. “But we have a lot of good men and women that work for this Sheriff’s Office. Both on the enforcement side, the administrative side, the communications center, … it’s a tough job for most of them. It’s very unfortunate, and I know the impact this has on the rank-and-file deputies that have seen this video. It’s appalling to everyone. Regardless if they were best friends or not.”
And Tanner said he understand the blowback in the community that this incident has caused.
“This is unfortunate because of the look it has. I can understand the community’s reaction. I completely understand it,” he said. “This is not the Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office. This is a former officer that worked at the Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office. I wish I was that person that could dive into his mental thoughts and tell you why he did what he did, but I can’t do it.
“I think we dealt with the situation appropriately, and I think we dealt with it in a timely fashion. We will continue to monitor and do what needs to be done.”
Mike McCombs is the editor of The Island News and can be reached at TheIslandNews@gmail.com.
