Civil Air Patrol will continue in Myrtle Beach

Area residents will continue to receive support from the S.C. Civil Air Patrol despite the Myrtle Beach commander saying Thursday it would no longer provide aeriel support for Horry County after he was charged in an incident that involved his taking a laser from a 12-year-old boy who aimed it at motorists.

“That’s our charge, by Congress, to serve everyone,” said Emerson Smith, public information officer for CAP’s main office in Columbia. “No squadron commander can say that and follow through on that. It just can’t be done.”

Smith added that there are 10 aircraft across S.C. all gased up and ready to provide assistance in the event of an emergency, as well as an additional 500 aircraft at their disposal in case of a hurricane.

Stephen Teachout was charged Wednesday with third-degree assault and petty larceny, said Sgt. Robert Kegler with the Horry County Police Department, after the boy’s parents pressed the charges.

Smith said the regional CAP commander will investigate the incident, and then make a recommendation to the wing commander in Columbia.

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The commander of the Myrtle Beach unit of the Civil Air Patrol said Thursday that it will no longer provide certain aerial support for Horry County after he was charged in an incident that involved his taking a laser from a 12-year-old boy who aimed it at motorists.

The Civil Air Patrol has existed in the Myrtle Beach area more than 30 years and has provided Horry County assistance in instances involving offshore missing persons, forest fire, and searches for downed aircraft.

But Stephen Teachout said that because the charges have been filed against him the Myrtle Beach wing of the Civil Air Patrol, which he said currently has three pilots, will no longer take calls, indefinitely, from Horry County for help with such things as offshore missing person, forest fire, etc.

He said a commander can choose whether to provide such services for an area; he said federal needs include assisting with a search and rescue of a down aircraft.

The decision comes after Teachout was charged Wednesday with third-degree assault and petty larceny, said Sgt. Robert Kegler with the Horry County Police Department.

He was charged after the 12-year-old boy’s parents wanted charges pursued.

The boy was issued a juvenile summons for public disorderly conduct for his role in the incident.

“This is ridiculous,” said Teachout. “There can’t be two victims in a victimless crime. I support Horry County, but if they don’t have [the pilots’] backs than no thanks. We don’t need to be here.”

According to a police report, the boy told an Horry County officer that he was standing in his yard in Garden City Sunday night when he pointed a laser toward people on a motorcycle, moped, and a stand up scooter at the corner of Cypress Avenue and Elizabeth Drive.

The boy said Teachout got off the scooter, went into the boy’s yard, grabbed him by his arm and took the green laser away from him.

Teachout then jumped back on the scooter and drove down Elizabeth Avenue, the boy told police.

The officer, who later recovered the laser from someone who witnessed the incident and who Teachout had given the laser to, contacted Teachout by telephone about the incident.

Teachout told the officer that the boy had shined the laser into his eyes and that he was taking it from the boy “just like he would take a baseball bat from someone if they was [sic] assaulting him.”

The officer, who said Teachout told him several times that he was a pilot for the Civil Air Patrol of Horry County, stopped Teachout because the phone call had gone from an interview to where Miranda Rights became an issue.

Officials with the S.C. Wing of the Civil Air Patrol could not be reached for comments. And Horry County Emergency Management officials said they could not really say what affect ceasing services could have on Horry County.

The Civil Air Patrol is a non-profit, humanitarian organization with 60,000 members nationwide, according to the website of the Myrtle Beach Composite Squadron, which is a unit of the South Carolina Wing, Civil Air Patrol. The Civil Air Patrol is the official civilian auxiliary of the U.S. Air Force.

“The biggest thing with pilots is safety,” said Teachout, who has been the local Civil Air Patrol commander for 1 1/2 years.

The lasers, on the other hand, have been an issue that several area municipalities – including Myrtle Beach and North Myrtle Beach - have been addressing following complaints.

Area officials have been expressed about the lasers being pointed at airplanes and tourists have complained about them being a nuisance.