Police

HORRY COUNTY

Police investigate Loris officer shot at while on patrol

Horry County authorities are investigating a Loris police officer being shot at while driving his cruiser in the city limits Monday night.

The 35-year-old officer was not hurt in the incident that occurred as he drove along Harrelson Avenue, Loris police Chief Joe Vaught said.

The Loris police officer told Horry County police that he was on patrol in the Tall Pine Apartments when he heard a loud pop as he drove by several men standing next to a vehicle, according to the Horry County police report. The officer said he thought it might be fireworks or him running over something in the street and continued on his patrol.

The officer said he and another officer stopped a woman for trespassing and she told them she came to get her children because someone had posted on Facebook that people were shooting at police, according to the report. The officer said he went back to his vehicle and noticed the vehicle had a bullet hole in it.

MYRTLE BEACH

Myrtle Beach woman charged with assault

A Myrtle Beach woman was charged after police said she hit a man in the head several times with a small plastic patio table, according to a police report.

Shannon Leigh St. Clair, 41, of Myrtle Beach, was charged with criminal domestic violence after officers were called at 4:50 a.m. Sunday to 919 N. Ocean Blvd., police said.

The victim, a 49-year-old man, told police that he had argued with St. Clair and as he tried to leave the apartment she hit him in the back of the head with the table, according to the report. A witness told police she heard the couple arguing and later saw St. Clair throwing things in the hallway.

The witness told police that she saw St. Clair hit the victim with the plastic table several times in the head, according to the report. The victim was treated by EMS at the apartment and refused to go to a hospital.

St. Clair had blood on her hands and arms, but did not have any injuries, police noted in the report. Officers arrested St. Clair at the apartment and seized the patio table as evidence.

MYRTLE BEACH

Man kicked Myrtle Beach taxi after ride refusal

A Myrtle Beach taxi driver told police that a man kicked his vehicle when he refused to give him a ride after learning the man had no money, according to a police report.

The driver for Beach Side Taxi told officers that at about 3:30 a.m. Tuesday he was parked outside Kono Lounge at 1901 N. Kings Highway when the man came up and asked for a ride, police said. The driver told the man he had to see cash before giving him the ride and the man did not have any money, according to the report. When the driver refused to give the man a ride, the driver said the man kicked the side of the vehicle.

The driver said he was calling police and the man ran away, according to the report. The driver reported a dent and scuff marks to the passenger door.

The driver told police the man frequents the club and he would be able to identify him if he saw him again, according to the report. Damage was estimated at $100.

MYRTLE BEACH

Scorpions and snakes seized, one arrested

Police seized several animals that aren’t allowed to be sold in Myrtle Beach. On Tuesday a 26-year-old man was arrested.

Matthew David Merkel is charged with three counts of mistreatment of animals.

Police said Generation X, a store at 910 North Ocean Boulevard, was openly displaying and selling emperor scorpions, red-eared pond sliders, aquatic turtles and ball pythons.

Nine iguanas and a deceased fire-bellied newt was also at the store, according to police.

Merkel cared for the animals, according to the police report and officers were not able to contact the store owner.

HORRY COUNTY

Man erroneously autopsied

An autopsy was performed on the wrong man earlier this month, said Robert Edge, Horry County Coroner.

“It was an unfortunate mistake,” Edge said. “It was a human error and nothing was done intentionally.”

The mistake happened on July 19 when a delivery service that takes bodies from funeral homes to the hospital for autopsies transported the wrong man, Edge said. The names of the men, the funeral director and the funeral home have not been released.

The funeral director contacted the family of the man who was mistakenly autopsied when the doctor finished and the error was noticed. The correct body was examined later the same day.

“It probably taught everyone a lesson to make sure they double check,” Edge said.

Edge did not speak with the family of the man erroneously autopsied, but said he was told the family wasn’t upset.

Local

CONWAY

CCU names auditorium for Johnson

Coastal Carolina University has named its Wall Auditorium for Conway native Jimmy Johnson, who was the first chairman of the university’s Board of Trustees.

Johnson attended Horry County schools and after serving three years in the U.S. Navy, graduated from Coastal Carolina College in 1959, where he was a member of the basketball team and the first student to receive an athletic scholarship.

He was also the first president of CCU’s alumni association and the first CCU alumnus to be awarded an honorary degree from USC, at the time Coastal’s parent institution. He was inducted into CCU’s Athletic Hall of Fame in 1991.

Johnson served as trustees chairman from 1993 to 1995. A year later, he was awarded a Coastal Founders’ Medallion and he was named trustee emeritus in 1998.

Johnson retired after 44 years from Dargan Construction Co. of Myrtle Beach, where he was president and treasurer.

The Johnson Auditorium is in the E. Craig Wall Sr. College of Business Administration.

From staff reports