Myrtle Beach police get conflicting stories after man reports beach assault

A man told Myrtle Beach police that a group of men surrounded him on the beach and one hit him in the head, but police heard conflicting stories about the incident after catching up with the group of alleged suspects.

Officers responded to the alleged assault about 1:30 a.m. Wednesday near the 200 block of 12th Avenue North, where a 50-year-old victim reported the incident, according to a police report.

The victim told police that about 12:20 a.m. he was walking on the beach near 12th Avenue North when a group of about five to 10 men approached him and asked to use his cellphone, police said.

The victim said he told the group he did not have a cellphone. He said the group then surrounded him, and someone hit him on the back of the head when he called for help, but he did not know which man hit him, authorities said.

Police said they later found five men near Ninth Avenue who were identified as the group by the victim.

Officers questioned the group and each man said they saw the victim pull out what looked like a knife after one of the alleged suspects asked to use the victim’s cellphone.

Two men from the group said they saw one man punch the victim, but only after the victim started to pull out a knife, police said.

Authorities questioned the victim again about the details of the incident again, and the victim said that all five alleged suspects were either in front of him or beside him during the incident, making it impossible for one of them to hit him in the back of the head, police said.

Police made no arrests in connection with the incident.

This story was originally published April 2, 2015 at 7:16 AM with the headline "Myrtle Beach police get conflicting stories after man reports beach assault."