Man trying to break up bar fight hit by fleeing suspect’s car

Two men and a woman are facing multiple charges after police responded to a fight last Friday at Sandy Monkey Bar in Garden City where a man who reportedly tried to break it up was hit by a fleeing vehicle.

Lt. Raul Denis of the Horry County Police Department said that officers responded to the bar at 3034 S. U.S. 17 Business for a fight in progress.

“Police arrived to find a man unconscious and lying in the parking lot, while other people tried to help him, and a white vehicle leaving the scene,” Denis said. “The investigation revealed that the man may have been trying to break up a fight, involving multiple people, when he was assaulted and that the white vehicle may have run the man over as it left.

“A witness followed the vehicle and officers were able to apprehend the driver,” identified in charges as 35-year-old Janelle Lee Castillo of Murrells Inlet.

Castillo was charged with hit and run and leaving the scene of an accident with great bodily injury and with first-degree assault and battery.

Christopher Neil Buckman, 23, of Surfside Beach, was charged with two counts of third-degree assault and battery. Daniel Watts, 23, of Garden City, was charged with third-degree assault and battery and public disorderly conduct.

Officers said the victim, who was having difficulty breathing, suffered a “severe head injury,” according to a police report. The man was taken to a local hospital, and his condition is unknown.

A witness at the scene told officers that the fight started between two people but progressed into a brawl.

The witness said she was hit multiple times while trying to protect the injured man as he lay on the ground, according to the report. Another witness reported seeing the injured man being “run over by the suspect’s white SUV” as they left the parking lot, the report stated.

“Doctors at Grand Strand Medical Center advised the victim’s head injury was consistent with being run over by a motor vehicle,” according to the report.

This story was originally published January 12, 2017 at 12:40 PM with the headline "Man trying to break up bar fight hit by fleeing suspect’s car."