Former SC officer broke into ex’s home, then hid and attacked her new boyfriend, cops say

A former South Carolina law enforcement officer faces multiple charges for breaking into his ex-girlfriend’s home, hiding and then attacking her new boyfriend when they arrived home, according to deputies.

William Martin Bratcher, 46, is charged with first-degree burglary, third-degree assault and battery and third-degree domestic violence, according to Greenwood County online court records.

The incident happened early Saturday at a home on Chinquapin Road in Greenwood, according to a Greenwood County Sheriff’s Office incident report. The female victim said she and her boyfriend had been out with friends, and when they arrived home, her boyfriend was tackled as he got out of the car. She identified the attacker as Bratcher and said he must have been hiding when they pulled in.

The two men fought for a few minutes, she told deputies. An officer who responded to the home saw that the back door had been kicked in.

The women told deputies she and Bratcher lived together but no longer see each other because “he was abusive and used to beat her,” the report states. She showed officers pictures on her cellphone of past injuries she accused Bratcher of causing.

Bratcher told deputies he lived at the home but locked his keys inside, which is why he kicked the door in. He had several marks on his face consistent with being hit while fighting, but told deputies he tripped and hit his head when he kicked the door in.

Deputies later spoke with the woman’s boyfriend at a gas station, and he told them Bratcher attacked him as he got out of the car. He hit back in self defense, and when the fight ended, Bratcher helped the man gather his belongings before he left, he said.

Bratcher worked as a law enforcement officer for several years in Greenwood County, according to records provided by the S.C. Criminal Justice Academy. He worked for the Greenwood Police Department from July 2006 to September 2009; the Greenwood County Sheriff’s Office from February 2010 to January 2014; and the Ninety Six Police Department from January 2015 to November 2017.

He resigned from the Ninety Six Police Department, but his resignation did not involve misconduct or disqualify him from being certified, records indicate.