Ex-security chief wrongly blamed after Myrtle Beach student snuck gun in school, suit says
Horry County Schools’ former security coordinator was unfairly scapegoated and “effectively terminated” after a student got a gun onto school property last year, he’s alleging in a lawsuit against the district.
David Beaty, who became HCS coordinator of school safety and security in 2012, was placed on paid administrative leave last year and left in limbo until his contract expired in June 2024, the suit states.
That all came after the school board issued a vote of no confidence to the district’s security staff in response to the Myrtle Myrtle Beach Middle School student bringing in a gun and ammunition last February in a see-through bag that was missed by the school’s metal detector. Beaty was on vacation during the incident, he asserts in the suit.
Then-Superintendent Rick Maxey told Beaty that the board then instructed him to request Beaty either resign or be terminated, but Beaty refused and was instead left on administrative leave for months, according to the complaint.
HCS spokeswoman Lisa Bourcier told The Sun News that the district does not comment on matters related to pending litigation.
Beaty specifically named board member Howard Barnard as a defendant due to his alleged role in leading the charge to remove Beaty from his position.
Barnard initiated the vote of no confidence — in violation of established board code of conduct standards — and tipped off local media ahead that action “to ensure a broad audience for his theatrical action,” Beaty alleges in the suit.
Barnard did not immediately return a voicemail seeking comment.
Barnard had previously advocated for implementing a new high-caliber weapons detection system despite a third-party security expert describing the technology as “security theater,” the complaint states. The board moved forward with purchasing that system after Beaty was placed on leave, the suit adds.
After Beaty’s contract expired, the district recreated his position under a new name and did not hire him despite him being the most qualified applicant, he alleged in the complaint.
Mike Frederick, a former Surfside Beach police chief, was announced as the district’s first executive director of safety and security in August.
HCS spent $3 million on the new weapons detection system, which uses artificial intelligence software to help detect weapons, The Sun News previously reported.
“No system is 100% infallible,” Frederick, previously told The Sun News, “but this system is as close to that” as it can be.
