Former police lieutenant sued for false arrest. Records show unlawful conduct, violations

This story is being updated to report that charges against Kenard Burley were dismissed May 18, 2023. Updated 12:37 p.m. March 27, 2024

A former Horry County Police lieutenant is facing two separate lawsuits alleging he made a false arrest during bike week of 2021.

Thomas Delpercio, who retired in January, has faced accusations of false arrests before. He declined to comment on the lawsuit on Monday.

Internal investigators within the Horry County Police Department sustained unlawful conduct violations, and body camera violations against Delpercio during 2020 and 2021, according to records acquired by The Sun News via a Freedom of Information Act request.

In October 2021, a complaint was filed against Delpercio as well as two other officers for a false arrest. According to the report, the complaint said that Delpercio’s conduct was “unprofessional and disrespectful.”

The details surrounding those investigations are unknown because subsequent FOIA requests for the full investigative files were denied by Horry County.

Delpercio previously worked for the Conway Police Department and the Coastal Carolina University Police Department. He retired from the Horry County Police Department in January after 23 years.

The lawsuits, filed within two weeks of the beginning of May, allege that Delpercio approached a sole Black man in a crowd near Causeway Bar and Grill during Bike Week of 2021 and arrested him for violating a noise complaint.

The lawsuits say that he also laid hands on the man’s wife, and hit others in the vicinity with the pepper-spray.

The man, Kenard Burley, of Texas, was charged with a noise violation, disorderly conduct and resisting arrest.

This story was originally published May 10, 2023 at 8:37 AM.