He allegedly pulled a gun at Bubba’s Love Shak. He didn’t know off-duty cops were there

Off-duty police officers held a man to the ground outside of Capt. Dave’s Dockside Restaurant along the Murrells Inlet Marshwalk after he allegedly pulled a gun on the group, a police report from the Georgetown Sheriff’s Office says.

Terrence Small, 34, of Murrells Inlet was arrested on Dec. 1 after officials say he approached one of the officers waiting in line for the bathroom outside of Bubba’s Love Shak. Small allegedly placed his hands on the officer who told him “to get his hands off of him and not touch him again,” the report states, which caused Small to become aggressive.

The off-duty officer told officials that it was difficult to tell what Small was saying because he was slurring his words, but that once the officer’s friends came outside Small walked into Dave’s Dockside. The report states that Small came back out out of the restaurant, allegedly pulling out a black semi-auto handgun and talking to the second witness.

“It is unclear exactly what was said, but sounded like it could have been something close to ‘what’s up now,’ ” the report says.

Officials said that the officer yelled ‘gun’ to his friends and they took cover.

When Georgetown officers arrived on scene they found Small held to the ground in front of Capt. Dave’s Dockside Restaurant by the off-duty officers, the report states. Georgetown officers detained Small and patted him down where they found a gun and a magazine. Neither to gun or the magazine were loaded, officials said.

When asked for his side of the story, officials said that Small told officers he approached the witness and a woman outside of the bathroom, telling the woman that if she “needed to use the bathroom she could come over to Dave’s Dockside instead of waiting outside at Bubba’s Love Shak,” the report says.

The report states that Small told officers that he lightly put his hands on the off-duty officer. Small later changed his story, the report states, saying that he just bumped elbows with the man if anything.

Small then told officers that “he was held down on the ground out of nowhere and for no reason,” the report says. He continues, saying that he was punched in the face and had guns held to his face “as he was told to get down by someone yelling police behind him,” the report says.

Officials said that there was surveillance footage that showed part of the incident.

The report says that the video shows one of the off-duty officers “walking down the stairs and taking off his jacket as to suggest Arrestee 1 come down there and fight him. The video shows a subject in a black shirt with a gun in his hand who is believed to be a police officer with Myrtle Beach. The video also shows another subject who is believed to be a police officer with Myrtle Beach reaching in his waist for what could have possibly been a gun.”

After, the video allegedly shows the officers trying to enter Dave’s Dockside after Small allegedly pulled the gun, “perhaps in an attempt to try and detain him,” the report says.

The names of the men line up with two officers with the Myrtle Beach Police Department and one with the Horry County Police Department.

Small was arrested and charged with unlawful possession of a concealed weapon and pointing and presenting firearms at a person, the sheriff’s office website shows.

The website shows that Small was previously arrested in September for driving under the influence.

This story was originally published December 14, 2017 at 12:22 PM with the headline "He allegedly pulled a gun at Bubba’s Love Shak. He didn’t know off-duty cops were there."