Police gear found in civilian possession

Gaffney police responding to a fight call in the Walmart parking lot on Nov. 3 ended up seizing several pieces of police-related gear from a vehicle.

Police were still investigating Thursday why the police gear, including handcuffs and a police baton, was in civilian possession and how it might have been used.

According to a police report, officers were dispatched to a fight call in the Walmart parking lot at about 11:24 p.m. where a 19-year-old Gastonia, N.C., man claimed he had been assaulted by a 31- year-old Hartsville man, and a second 19-year-old Gastonia man claimed he was assaulted by a 25- year-old Hartsville man.

Witness and victim statements indicated a third person was present, according to the report. Police said they subsequently found two of the three subjects inside Walmart and both had an odor of alcohol.

Police were subsequently advised that one of the suspects, identified in the report as Adam Spencer Hendrix, 31, of Fox Hollow Drive, Hartsville, had fled the scene in a black truck.

Police said the learned one of the other two men had outstanding charges in Florida for breaking and entering, burglary and possession of tools to commit a crime.

A search conducted of the vehicle the three subjects had allegedly occupied turned up various vehicle entry tools, wrenches, a police Tshirt, three pairs of handcuffs, a police baton and a U.S. Marshall clip board, according to the police report.