MOUNT PLEASANT — The felony assault and battery case against the son of a local congressional candidate almost wasn't pursued because an inexperienced officer didn't see it as warranted.
The disclosure was made by the town's police chief after The Post and Courier reviewed 25 pages of police records obtained through a S.C. Freedom of Information Act request.
In a statement to the newspaper, Chief Mark Arnold said that after a parent filed a report about her 16-year-old son being assaulted, "the case was initially investigated by a less experienced officer and closed."
The chief's April 23 statement continued that after a review of the incident, the case was reopened "and assigned to a detective, who is a seasoned officer. Additional witnesses were interviewed and when probable cause existed, an arrest warrant was issued."
The comment refers to the arrest of Brooks Hampton Templeton, the 18-year-old son of Republican congressional candidate Catherine Templeton.
At the center of the investigation is an alleged assault that occurred Jan. 12 on Haddrell Street where teenagers had flocked to a house party in the Old Village that night and were consuming alcohol.
Templeton is accused of starting a fight with a younger classmate from Lucy Beckham High School, with witnesses claiming the incident began with Templeton calling the victim and his friends lewd, derogatory names. It escalated when Templeton attacked him from behind in the street and then proceeded to strike him in the head repeatedly, according to his arrest records.
The 16-year-old suffered significant bruising, including two black eyes, and later experienced multiple seizures and was sent to a local hospital, according to police documents.
When police arrived on scene after receiving calls about a fight in progress, a group of high school students tried to scatter. Arnold said responding officers managed to speak to numerous individuals, but they "had conflicting stories and stated there wasn’t a fight." Alcohol was spotted. Parents were called.
Four days later, the victim's parent filed a report.
During the initial investigation, the officer first assigned to the case tried to reach Templeton. Instead, he was connected with his mother, Catherine Templeton.
In her telling of events, she said that the victim had actually been the aggressor.
"She stated that her son and several other individuals at the party attempted to calm him down and restraining him after he started swinging his fists at several of them, attempting to strike them," the police report stated.
Catherine Templeton also told police that her son did not assault the victim "in any manner and that injuries were not caused by Hampton" and she also was aware that the student had ended up going to the hospital after sustaining injuries to his face and suffering seizures.
The victim's mother raised the issue again weeks later on March 13 — almost two months after the incident — wondering why nobody from the police department had come by the house to collect her son's victim statement. It was still sitting in his room, where it had been completed since January.
She wanted to speak to a detective and was "concerned by the lack of progress in this case and advised her son was seriously hurt and suffered from head-to-toe seizures due to the assault," she told police, according to the detective's report.
But by that time the case had been officially "closed" on Feb. 3, according to an incident report, which was two days before Catherine Templeton formally announced her GOP congressional bid for the 1st District seat held by U.S. Rep. Nancy Mace.
The report closing the case also echoed Catherine Templeton's initial account, with the police officer concluding in the decision that "the victim was the primary aggressor" and stating "there is no evidence indicating the suspect assaulted the victim."
The police officer also said at the time that the victim had not been cooperative, which ran counter to the mother's claim that her son had been waiting for police to collect his victim statement.
With the case reopened and assigned to a detective, interviews were conducted with the scattered students and potential neighbors who could shed light about what happened that night.
That's when the centerpiece of the investigation turned on the younger Templeton, with multiple witnesses stepping forward and identifying him as the aggressor, providing photos, screenshots of text messages, receipts and other evidence to aid in the investigation.
The younger Templeton was charged with one county of assault and battery, and booked into the Charleston County jail after his arrest April 16. He was released on a $30,000 surety bond. The felony offense carries up to 10 years in prison.
As part of his bond conditions, Templeton cannot have any contact with the victim nor any of his family members verbally, electronically, by phone or on social media, according to court records.
A Charleston County School District spokesman wasn't able to confirm Templeton's status in the school system.
Templeton's first court appearance is scheduled for June 7 — four days before the June 11 Republican primary.
