Man who ran from officers Tuesday afternoon was wanted on felony warrants, police say

A man who sheriff’s deputies say ran from them Tuesday afternoon on Lemon Island was accused by Beaufort Police officers of strangling his girlfriend in August, officials say.

Bernard Garvin, 30, of Hilton Head was charged Tuesday with kidnapping, first-degree assault and battery and fleeing to evade arrest, according to the Beaufort County Detention Center. Just after noon Tuesday, deputies with the Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office pulled Garvin over for a traffic violation, police said in an alert. When he was stopped, police said Garvin ran away from them, resulting in an almost hour-long search of the area before he was found and charged.

On Aug. 31, Beaufort Police Department officers were called to the Walmart in Beaufort after hearing that an employee had been choked by her boyfriend in the parking lot, according to a police report. When they arrived, they saw the employee with a cut and red marks on her throat.

The woman told police she went to the parking lot to meet her boyfriend in his car and that she thought he was upset and had been drinking. She said he grabbed her by the throat and that when she reached to open the door to leave, she began to see stars, police said in the report. When she tried to get out of the car again, Garvin allegedly grabbed her by her clothes and threatened to drive the car and drag her along with it.

The woman, whose name was redacted from the report to protect her privacy, told police she was being held against her will and that “jumping out of a moving vehicle felt less dangerous than the situation she was currently experiencing,” the report said.

The woman was able to get out of the moving car and ran inside the store to call 911. A coworker told police that they heard yelling and saw the woman hanging out of the side of the car.

Garvin was granted a $1,087.50 surety bond Wednesday for the fleeing to evade charge by Beaufort County Magistrate Court Judge Lashonda Scott, court records show. As of Wednesday, he remains in custody at the detention center in Beaufort.

If you or someone you know has been a victim of domestic violence, confidential help can be found at Hopeful Horizons by calling their 24-hour support line at 843-770-1070 or at the National Domestic Violence Hotline 800-799-7233.