Crime & Safety
Reports: Suspect Strikes Men With SUV
Men report being struck by Range Rover after traffic dispute.
A Mount Pleasant man faces assault and battery charges after he allegedly struck two men with his Range Rover SUV following a dispute over bad driving.
It happened on New Year's Eve after a Mount Pleasant woman in a Cadillac Escalade rushed home to catch the final moments of the Clemson-LSU game. She sped around the Range Rover on a solid yellow line, according to a report.
When the woman pulled into her Wild Dunes driveway, along with several passengers, the Range Rover pulled in behind her, according to a police incident report.
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The woman's husband and friends confronted the driver, later identified as Joseph Porfeli, 64, and an argument broke out.
Porfeli said he followed the Cadillac because the driver was behaving so erractically, but when he sensed he was outmatched, he decided to leave the scene, according to the police report.
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But instead of placing his vehicle in reverse, he put it in drive and hit the woman's husband and clipped another man at the scene, the victims told officers. Neither had serious injuries, according to the report.
Witnesses followed Porfeli's SUV for a time and through neighbors were able to lead police to the man's home. He admitted to striking the men, but said it was unintentional. He told the arresting officer that he knew he had struck them, but left the scene anyway.
Porfeli was booked into the Charleston County Jail and later was released after posting a $2,500 bond.
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