Deputy Fired for Kicking Simpsonville Man in the Head

An Anderson County Sheriff's deputy was fired Wednesday night after a video surfaced showing him kicking a Simpsonville man in the head in a bar scuffle.

Sheriff John Skipper dismissed the deputy, who was identified in a cell-phone video on Oct. 12 kicking Brian Ashley Gilbert, 34, of Simpsonville outside Johnny Angell's bar in downtown Anderson.

"The video shows that he came up to the guy and actually kicked him in the head," Skipper told the Anderson Independent Mail newspaper. "He was fired for conduct unbecoming of an officer."

Skipper did not name the deputy, citing it as a personnel matter.

The deputy, who was new to the Sheriff's Office, reportedly stepped in after a scuffle outside the bar, in which Gilbert allegedly bit off a portion of deputy Sgt. Andrew Hyslop's left pinkie finger.

According to the newspaper, Skipper said the fired deputy had been employed by the Anderson County Sheriff's Office for 12 weeks, but had never made it out of the office to do road patrol. Skipper said the fired deputy had just recently graduated from the South Carolina Criminal Justice Academy.

Investigation of the incident has been turned over to SLED.

Meantime, Gilbert remains in the Anderson County Detention Center on aggravated assault and disorderly conduct charges. 

For the complete story, CLICK HERE.