‘Help! Help! Mom!’: Drunken Deputy Joins Unemployment Line After Threatening to Shoot Teens Walking Through Neighborhood; Black Mother Files Lawsuit
An off-duty South Carolina sheriff’s deputy who was fired for being drunk and disorderly while pointing a gun at a group of teenage boys in his neighborhood, threatening to kill them after imagining one of them with a gun is now being sued.
But former Beaufort County Sheriff’s Master Sergeant William “Billy” Squires has yet to be arrested for his drunken tirade that was captured on video last month — which would have resulted in serious felony charges for anybody else without a badge.
However, the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division said it is investigating Squires to determine if he committed a crime, a process that can take months if history is any indicator, giving him enough time to find another law enforcement job.
But now that a lawsuit has been filed by one of the parents, Squires may face legal consequences for his drunken deed which could have easily turned deadly for the three teenagers who were terrified of his actions.
“Hey, sir, can you call the cops, please,” one of the teenagers asked a man who was witnessing the altercation.
“Hey, call the police,” a second teen pleads.
“I am the police!” responded Squires before enlisting the neighbors to help him detain the boys.
The lawsuit was filed in federal court on Oct. 10 by a Black woman named Laquesha Habersham who is described as the mother of one of the teens referred to as “T.P.” in the lawsuit.
The lawsuit makes no mention of race but the video recorded after the incident shows one of the teens was Black, so he was most likely the one recording the cop assaulting his white friends, trying his hardest to deescalate the situation.
It appears from comments made in the video the teen was recording with Ray Ban Meta Glasses, so perhaps the drunken deputy was unaware he was being recorded.
According to the lawsuit:
Plaintiff is a teenager of relatively small stature. Plaintiff was not acting in an aggressive manner, did not possess a weapon, was not under the influence of drugs or alcohol, and had no prior criminal record or reputation for physical aggression.
At the time Defendants encountered Plaintiff, no crime had been reported, and Plaintiff was not actively attempting to evade arrest by flight. Plaintiff did not pose an immediate threat to the safety of Defendants.
The lawsuit also lists several John Does as defendants who are the adult neighbors who assisted Squires in detaining the teens who had committed no crime.
Master Sergeant Squires enlisted the assistance of John Does 1-5, who, without provocation, acted in concert with Squires and used grossly excessive physical force to restrain the boys on the roadway.
Upon information and belief, multiple neighborhood residents witnessed the incident and called 911. When responding officers arrived, Master Sergeant Squires provided a false account of the events.
Watch the video below.
‘I Will Shoot You’
The incident took place on Sept. 28 in Hilton Head Island, a barrier island community on the southern coast of South Carolina as the group of three teenage friends were walking through a residential neighborhood.
The video begins with Squires dressed in Bermuda shorts and loafers while wearing a sheriff vest and badge around his neck and approaching the teens with his department-issued gun drawn, ordering them to get on the ground.
He grabs the arm of the teen recording and tries to drag him to the ground before turning his attention to the other teens. He then re-holsters his gun before picking up a black backpack one of teens was carrying.
Squires then attempts to open the backpack as one of the teens who had asked the neighbors to call police tries to snatch the backpack away from him, prompting the deputy to grab him by the arm and kick him in the legs to knock him on the ground.
That is when a second teen runs up and shoves Squires away from his friend which was when Squires pulled out his gun again to point it at the teens.
“I will shoot you,” he threatens the two white teens.
“No! No! No! Stop! Stop! Don’t shoot!” the Black teen recording yells.
But Squires then points the gun at the teen recording – even though he had done nothing to threaten the deputy.
“Why are you pointing the gun at me,” the teens asks before yelling out for his mother to help him.
“Help! Help! Help! Mom! Mom! Mom! Mom!”
The deputy then runs after one of the white teens, grabbing him by his arm, telling him to get on the ground.
“What the f_ck is your problem?” the teen asks as he is being dragged down.
“Call the sheriff’s office,” Squires tells a neighbor witnessing the abuse.
“Get the f_ck on the ground,” a male neighbor yells as he approaches the teens to help the deputy detain them. He is now one of five John Doe defendants named in the lawsuit.
A third video recorded by a witness shows the teen who shoved the cop lying facedown on the street with his hands cuffed behind his back.
“You hit a cop, you’re under arrest,” Squires is telling him.
“You hit my friend,” the teen responds. “You were strangling my friend.”
The deputy claimed the teens had a gun and then ran from him, but they repeatedly told him they did not have a gun.
“You pointed a gun at our face,” one of the teen says.
The boy was later released with no charges after the sheriff viewed the videos going viral.
‘It was Appalling to See’
When fellow deputies from the Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office arrived, witnesses told them they suspected Squires of being drunk.
However, when Sheriff P.J. Tanner asked him to take a breathalyzer test, he refused, which led to the sheriff placing him on unpaid suspension, although Squires later admitted to having been drinking that day.
Squires was terminated on Oct. 3, less than a week after the incident, ending a 19-year career with the Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office.
According to an internal document from the sheriff’s office listing the reasons he was terminated:
On September 28, 2025, William Squires, while allegedly intoxicated, drove his Sheriff’s Office-issued vehicle to the scene of a small disturbance in his neighborhood, contacting several males in an off-duty capacity. William Squires then returned to his vehicle, armed himself with his duty weapon, donned his Kevlar vest, and returned to the juveniles.
Cell phone video captured by the juveniles shows Squires pointing his firearm at them, ordering them to the ground, seizing a backpack, cursing, and aggressively advancing. When one juvenile pushed him, Squires drew his firearm again, pointed it directly at the juvenile, and threatened to shoot.
The video also shows him dragging one juvenile by the shirt, throwing him to the ground, and handcuffing him while shouting profanities. At one point, when one of the juveniles asked someone to call the police, Squires told them he was “the police.”
At no time did Squires see a firearm, nor was an alleged handgun recovered during the subsequent criminal and administrative investigation.
“Looking at that video, it was appalling to see,” Sheriff Tanner told local media. “And I can also see how the average citizen sees that video and just goes into shock as to what they see.”
The sheriff also told local media that Squires violated several departmental policies, including refusing to take the breathalyzer and consuming alcoholic beverages while armed in an off-duty capacity and then presenting this firearm for an unlawful purpose. He also violated the policy that requires him to turn on his body camera which he was wearing but had not turned on.
“My 45 years in law enforcement and almost 27 years as sheriff, nothing really surprises me,” Sheriff Tanner said. “I mean, I hate to say it that way, and I’m not downplaying this in any matter, but what I saw was horrible.”