Surfside Beach police arrested a 27-year-old man on driving under the influence, criminal domestic violence and child endangerment charges following an incident late Sunday, according to a police report.
Joshua Daniel Bell, 27, of Surfside Beach, was charged with criminal domestic violence of a high and aggravated nature, driving under the influence, driving under suspension, unlawful neglect of a child and child endangerment, according to records at J. Reuben Long Detention Center. Bell was booked into the jail at 3:51 a.m. Monday and is being held on $51,442 bond.
Officers were called about 8:15 p.m. Sunday to a home in the 1000 block of South Myrtle Drive for a domestic dispute, according to the report. Officers saw a vehicle leaving the area and learned from the victim that Bell was driving it and was suspected in the assault.
Officers stopped the vehicle that Bell was driving and the officer noted a strong smell of alcohol so they detained him, according to the report. Bell told police he had argued with his girlfriend at her house and he did not have a driver’s license because they were suspended. Bell refused to take a breathalyzer.
A 7-year-old child was in the rear of the vehicle and taken into custody when Bell was taken to the Surfside Beach Police Department, according to police. The 25-year-old victim told police that Bell hit her in the nose and scratched her back to remove a prescription pain patch.
The woman said Bell tried to choke her, and cover her mouth to keep her from calling for help, according to the report. The woman said Bell tried to lock her and the child inside a bathroom, but she was able to get out of the house with a 2-year-old child and call police from a neighbor’s house.
The woman said she left Bell in the house with their 17-month-old baby when she left to call police, according to the report. The woman suffered injuries that were consistent with her statement about the assault.
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