The Latest: Deputies in man’s custody death put on leave

LADSON, S.C. – The Latest on a man who beat two South Carolina deputies with their own baton before dying in custody (all times local):

4 p.m.

Authorities have identified the two South Carolina deputies who were beaten with their own baton by a man who later died in custody.

Charleston County Sheriff’s Office Maj. Eric Watson said in a statement that both Deputy Robert Bittner and Deputy Levi Reiter have worked for the sheriff’s office for 15 years and are on administrative leave.

Investigators say Bittner and Reiter were trying to figure out why a man was walking barefoot, blocking traffic Sunday on U.S. Highway 78 in Ladson when the man attacked them with their own baton.

Authorities say a Taser didn’t stop the man and it took up to 10 bystanders to subdue him. He died a short time later at the hospital.

A police report says Bittner and Reiter are white. The identity, race and cause of death of the man have not been released.

___

12:30 p.m.

Authorities say a man who beat two South Carolina sheriff’s deputies with their own baton died after he was taken into custody with the help of bystanders.

Several news outlets quote Charleston County Sheriff’s Major Eric Watson as saying the incident began Sunday afternoon with a barefoot man blocking traffic as he walked on a highway near Ladson.

Watson says the man fought with deputies, taking a baton from one of them and hitting them both in the head. He says the officers used a Taser, which didn’t appear to work.

Watson says up to 10 people nearby then helped restrain the man, who died at the hospital. The coroner has ordered an autopsy to identify the man and determine how he died. No shots were fired.

The deputies were released from the hospital Monday morning.