Officer resigns after using excessive force.

A police officer who showed a pattern of using excessive force - and was hired by the Bluffton Police Department last year while on probation with the Beaufort County Sheriff's Office - resigned in early July days after an internal investigation found he did not properly de-escalate an incident in Old Town and subsequently lied to investigators.

Since September 2015, Johnathon Bates, 38, had been investigated four times for the way he dealt with citizens. Three of those incidents involved Bates physically pulling or shoving a handcuffed, intoxicated man, according to Bluffton police and Sheriff's Office files.

Two of the four investigations found Bates in violation of department policies.

Bates, who had been with the Bluffton department since July 2017, submitted his handwritten resignation July 6, according to his personnel file.

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