TABOR CITY - Kidnapping,
assault and weapon charges were filed against an auxiliary police officer
Wednesday, just hours after he resigned from the Tabor City Police Department.
Tommy Garland Lovett, 41, was
denied bail during a hearing before a magistrate Thursday morning, Marion
County, South Carolina Sheriff Mark Richardson said.
Lovett, of Nichols, South
Carolina, is charged with kidnapping, assault and battery in the first-degree,
pointing and presenting a firearm, and possession of a weapon during a violent
crime.
Lovett's girlfriend told
investigators that he struck her during an altercation Wednesday morning, held
a gun to her head, would not allow her to leave her home, and threatened to
kill her if she told anyone, Richardson said.
Lovett had been an auxiliary
(unpaid) Tabor City officer for 26 days, and had only been on patrol briefly,
Chief Donald Dowless said.
"He told me there was a
problem, and submitted his resignation," Dowless said.
Lovett called the issue a
"misunderstanding," Dowless said.
