Video from a March 25 game in Marion County shows a school resource officer restraining and striking a visiting player as state investigators review what happened.
MULLINS, S.C. — South Carolina authorities are investigating a Marion County sheriff’s deputy after video from a private school baseball game showed the school resource officer holding a visiting player from behind and striking him in the head with a Taser after the March 25 game.
The case drew fast attention because the deputy was working as the school resource officer at Pee Dee Academy and the player was a teenager from the opposing team, Lee Academy in Bishopville. The South Carolina Law Enforcement Division, known as SLED, says the inquiry remains active, the sheriff’s office says the deputy has been reassigned, and officials still have not publicly explained what started the confrontation outside the field.
Game records show Pee Dee Academy beat Lee Academy 7-0 on March 25, and school schedule listings show a junior varsity game also had been played that afternoon, leaving players and families from both programs near the field as the varsity game ended. Afterward, cell phone video shows deputy Eddie Page with his left arm around Andrew Bowers from behind while the teen faces a crowd of coaches, parents and teammates. Page then pulls his Taser from his belt and swings it toward the right side of Bowers’ head. The player drops to his knees and reaches up toward the spot where he was hit. In footage later aired by local stations, the deputy can be heard asking, “Where’s the other fella at?” A coach from the visiting side appears to move closer and speak to the officer as people around them object and keep filming.
Longer clips reported by local television stations add pieces of the exchange but not a full explanation. In those accounts, Page says Bowers had stepped on his foot with cleats and had spoken to him in a way the deputy would not accept. A person in the crowd says the player had squared up as if he might throw a punch. Those claims have not been confirmed by investigators, and the public video does not show the first moments of the dispute. What the footage does show is a heated scene already in progress, with several adults arguing at close range before the deputy and player become the center of it. At one point, after the deputy says he did not hit the player, a bystander replies, “I got it on video.” The Marion County Sheriff’s Office has not released a written incident report, body camera footage or a fuller account of what happened before phone cameras started recording.
The setting helps explain why the video spread so quickly. Pee Dee Academy and Lee Academy are small private schools that compete in South Carolina Independent School Association athletics, and records show they had already played once earlier in March before meeting again in Mullins on March 25. Later reports identified Bowers as Lee Academy’s only hitter in the 7-0 loss, and sports listings show he was selected all-state last season. Pee Dee Academy is based in the Mullins area of Marion County, where Page was assigned as the campus resource officer. That assignment matters because school resource officers work inside student spaces and often become the public face of law enforcement on campus. Witnesses cited by the sheriff’s office spokeswoman described a chaotic scene and said the deputy was trying to get things under control, but officials have not said what that meant in practical terms or why the encounter turned physical.
By Monday, the case had moved from a local school sports dispute to a formal state investigation. SLED said the Marion County Sheriff’s Office asked the agency to take the case on March 26, the day after the game, and the agency said on March 30 that the inquiry was still “active and ongoing.” The sheriff’s office said Page had been reassigned pending that review. No criminal charges had been announced by Monday evening, and neither SLED nor the sheriff’s office had said whether prosecutors were already involved, whether internal discipline had started, or whether the deputy filed a formal use of force report. Officials also had not said whether Bowers needed medical treatment, whether any other person was detained in connection with the argument, or whether additional video from officers or school security exists. For now, the public record remains limited to witness accounts, short public statements and the clips recorded by people standing nearby.
That lack of detail has left the most basic questions unanswered. Investigators have not said whether the deputy believed he was breaking up a fight, responding to a threat from a player, confronting an adult, or trying to control several people at once. They also have not said whether any school officials asked for law enforcement help before the restraint began. In one report, an adult in the crowd suggests that a parent had threatened to hit the officer at some earlier point, but that claim also remains unverified in public. Without a full timeline, it is not yet clear whether Bowers was the focus of the original dispute or whether he became caught in a larger confrontation after the game. Those unknowns will shape any decision on criminal liability, departmental discipline and school response because the central question is not only whether force was used, but why the deputy used it and whether that force matched the circumstances he faced.
The video’s force comes from how ordinary the setting looks before it turns tense. Players are still in uniform. Adults stand only a few feet away with phones raised. A chain-link fence and dugout area frame the argument as if it were still part of a normal postgame routine. Then the noise rises. One person shouts in shock after the blow. Another tells the officer that his career may be over. The teen, still under restraint, rubs the side of his head while the deputy keeps talking about his foot and the way the player spoke to him. No one in the public clips appears certain, in that moment, whether the confrontation is ending or widening. Parents and community members nearby do not sound unsure about whether force was used. They sound stunned that it happened at a school game, with students, coaches and families standing close enough to watch each second unfold.
As of Monday, March 30, the deputy had been moved from his school assignment, the state investigation was still open and officials had not filled in the missing first minutes of the encounter. The next public milestone is likely the release of more details from SLED or the sheriff’s office once that review advances.
Author note: Last updated March 30, 2026.