A Beaufort County sheriff's deputy was fired Friday following an internal affairs investigation into allegations he beat his girlfriend, making him the second officer dismissed for misconduct in the past two weeks.
Cpl. Shane Clevenger was relieved of his duties after being on paid suspension for about a week during the probe. He faces a charge of criminal domestic violence.
The incident occurred Aug. 26 in the parking lot of Walmart in Beaufort. Clevenger, 42, turned himself in at the Beaufort Police Department two days later, when police obtained a warrant for his arrest, said Beaufort Police Chief Matt Clancy.
He was booked at the Beaufort County Detention Center and released hours later on his own recognizance.
Clancy doesn't think the victim required medical treatment.
Clevenger, a patrol deputy working the northern part of the county, served three stints at the Sheriff's Office -- from September 1999 to December 2000; from March 2003 to September 2007; and from April 2009 until Friday.
He was one of two sheriff's deputies under investigation for criminal domestic violence.
On Tuesday, Cpl. Tony Serrato resigned amid an internal affairs inquiry and a criminal investigation.
According to a sheriff's report, police were called to a Jib Sail Court home in Yacht Cove on Hilton Head Island on Aug. 27.The victim, a girlfriend with whom Serrato had previously lived, told dispatchers and responding officers that Serrato had assaulted her and pinned her against a refrigerator.
When a detective interviewed her, the woman recanted many of her previous statements and described the incident as an argument fueled by alcohol, the report stated. She declined to press charges.
Serrato began work with the Sheriff's Office as a reserve deputy in 1992. He was hired full-time in 2001 and worked as a patrol deputy in the southern part of the county.
A third deputy is being investigated by the State Law Enforcement Division for allegedly having "improper contact" with a Bluffton woman he had arrested and was taking to jail Aug. 15.
Lance Cpl. David Singleterry was fired last week after an internal affairs investigation concluded he engaged in "conduct unbecoming of an officer," said Sheriff P.J. Tanner.
SLED is expected to report its findings to 14th Circuit Solicitor Duffie Stone, who will then decide whether criminal charges are warranted in that case.
A SLED investigation can take months to complete.
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