Was SC man beat up for wearing Trump hat at Broadway at the Beach? Restaurant disagrees
A man says he was assaulted at Broadway at the Beach for wearing a Donald Trump hat this week. Restaurant management told a different story.
While visiting friends in Myrtle Beach from Columbia, Steven Lyles, 46, claims he was assaulted early Tuesday morning near a Broadway at the Beach restaurant, believing the attack happened because he wore a pro-Donald Trump hat, the man’s attorney and one of his friends told The Sun News.
Lyles is active in the Lexington County and South Carolina Republican parties, and was visiting friends in Myrtle Beach this week, according to his friend Don Bowne. Bowne runs a program called “Red Hats for America” in which he makes and distributes pro-Trump hats to fellow conservatives, and said he met Lyles through political events.
Lyles had gone out for dinner and later visited Crocodile Rocks at Broadway at the Beach, according to Lyles’ attorney Reese Boyd III. Afterward, Lyles visited the Mexican restaurant and bar Señor Frog’s, Boyd said.
When Lyles tried to enter Señor Frog’s, though, Boyd said, the bouncer at the door stopped him and told him the hat he was wearing was “not acceptable.” Lyles’ hat was navy blue, had an image of the U.S. presidential seal on the front, appeared to have been signed in silver marker by Trump, and had “TRUMP” printed in small letters on the back strap.
According to Boyd, Lyles “walked into the bar, was advised by the bouncer that his hat was not acceptable (but) was not given a reason.”
“Mr. Lyles did want to go inside, (and) did ultimately make his way inside,” Boyd said, taking a seat at the bar.
Lyles was “minding his business” and wearing his hat at the bar, Boyd said, when the bouncer approached him.
“Basically as I understand it, the bouncer grabbed him, dragged him outside and beat him up,” Boyd said.
Lyles suffered multiple injuries including bruises over large portions of his body and around his face and eyes, and sprayed with pepper spray and that he “blacked out,” Boyd said.
Myrtle Beach police provide details
Gretchen Kalar, a spokesperson for the Myrtle Beach Police Department, said police responded to the incident, although incident reports were not available as of Thursday afternoon.
Kalar provided The Sun News with a call for service report detailing Myrtle Beach police involvement in the confrontation that night.
Myrtle Beach police received a phone call at 1:32 a.m. Tuesday for a disorderly disturbance, according to the service report.
“Disorderly subject was refusing to leave,” the notes section of the report states. “Security has male detained” at 1:33 a.m. that night, according to the report. The report stated the man was trespassing “indefinitely.” Kalar said that means he cannot return to Broadway at the Beach.
Less than a minute later security pepper sprayed the man. About 1:50 a.m., an ambulance was called. EMS arrived about 2:02 a.m., according to police.
‘Beat up would be an understatement’
Boyd said he didn’t know if a conversation or argument between Lyles and the bouncer occurred inside the restaurant prior to the incident, though he said Lyles and the bouncer had “some discussion” about the hat outside of the restaurant in which the bouncer told him he didn’t approve of the hat.
Boyd also said he was “shocked” by the extent of Lyles’ injuries when he met with him in person Wednesday at his office.
“It’s very apparent that he was not only beat up, he was very nearly permanently injured,” Boyd said. “To say this guy was beat up would be an understatement.”
Señor Frog’s co-owner Jerry Lomeli said the restaurant didn’t dispute Lyles’ hat and that their security did not injure him.
Rather, Lomeli said, Lyles attempted to enter Señor Frog’s after 1 a.m., after the restaurant closed its doors and was not allowing new customers to enter. Following a large fight near the restaurant over the July 4th weekend, Lomeli said, the restaurant made the decision to stop letting new customers in after 1 a.m., giving existing customers an hour before the restaurant ultimately closes at 2 a.m.
Because of those new rules, restaurant security told Lyles he wasn’t allowed to enter the restaurant, Lomeli said.
Lyles somehow entered the restaurant anyway and took a seat at the bar, Lomeli said. Someone recognized Lyles, and asked him to leave. Lomeli showed reporters from The Sun News security camera footage that depicted Senor Frog’s security guards turning Lyles away.
“One of the security guys recognized him and (mentioned it) to the owner. . . and (Lyles) started acting belligerent,” Lomeli said. “He mentioned this about ‘I’m wearing this hat’ and they said, ‘No, you’re trespassing.”
After restaurant staff and security escorted Lyles out of the restaurant, Lomeli said, security officers for Broadway at the Beach intervened. That’s when Lyles got hurt, Lomeli said, adding that he felt that interaction was “for nothing.”
“What happened to him after, when he was dealing with Broadway (security), that’s a different story,” Lomelli said. “I was a little upset to see what happened to him, for nothing. For absolutely nothing.”
“Maybe he fell, maybe something happened to him, but not here,” Lomeli added.
Boyd said Thursday that he stands by Lyles’ version of events and plans to pursue justice for his client, regardless of who is at fault for Lyles’ injuries. He said in the early stage of an investigation into an incident, “multiple versions” of events can surface, but he was “confident” that someone had wronged Lyles. Lyles is “a stand-up member of the community,” Boyd said.
“It was very clear that he had been beaten, what we used to call a whooping,” Boyd said. “It was a serious beating that left him bruised and scarred over large portions of his body. He was beaten extremely badly and way out of proportion to any offense that he may have done.”
After leaving the hospital, Lyles met with Boyd at his office, Boyd said, though he would not say what legal action Lyles may take.
Lyles was released from the hospital Wednesday afternoon.
The Sun News attempted to speak with a supervisor for security staff at Broadway at the Beach, but the person declined to comment and refused to give their name.
“We don’t make any comments to the news,” the person said before hanging up the phone.
Voicemail and text messages to Jim Powalie, the general manager of Broadway at the Beach, were not returned Thursday.
Bowne said he met Lyles several years ago and the two have attended Trump-related and other political events in South Carolina and Florida together. Bowne described Lyles as a “friend,” “a regular, normal guy,” and “an all-around good patriot.” Bowne said Lyles was in town to visit him and other friends he knew and added he was floored when Lyles told him he was attacked because of his Trump hat.
“If someone had a (President Joe) Biden shirt or a (Vice President) Kamala Harris shirt or a (Sen.) Bernie (Sanders) shirt, I wouldn’t say anything about it. I might turn away and not look at it, but I wouldn’t confront anyone,” Bowne said. “He’s really afraid and he doesn’t want to come back to Myrtle Beach.”
Since Trump emerged on the national political stage several years ago, Bowne has become an avid fan and has collected Trump memorabilia, distributed his red hats, and attended numerous political events in support of Trump and similar politics. He and Lyles are active in their respective local Republican parties, which across South Carolina have made moves in recent months to defend and continue supporting the former president after an election conservatives contest.
Claire Robinson, a spokesperson for the South Carolina Republican Party, said Wednesday that she and other party officials knew Lyles, but hadn’t heard about the incident in Myrtle Beach.
Bowne said the incident “breaks his heart.”
Lomeli insisted that the incident was not Señor Frog’s fault, and that it was not political.
“We love freedom. We love people,” he said. “It’s not political.”
