ROCK HILL, S.C. -- A Rock Hill man has been charged with assault and battery when he allegedly used his pet python as a weapon.
"I guess I upset some people because I was talking the word of God," said Jeffrey Culp.
There are, at least, 44 verses in the Bible that reference snakes.
"I'm terrified of them," Culp said. "Everybody around here knows that I am deathly afraid of snakes. I can't stand them."
Culp is staying in room 207 at the Executive Inn in Rock Hill. Four doors down in room 203, Tony Smith and his pet python had been relaxing Tuesday night.
“The snake ain’t no harm to nobody,” Smith said. “I mean I've had him laying here on the bed beside of me like he's a dog watching TV with me."
Smith admits he'd had a couple of beers and decided to take 4-foot long Muhkia for an evening stroll past a terrified Culp.
“I felt like taking my snake for a walk,” Smith said. “I put my snake around my neck and as I was passing, I must have startled him and apparently he don't like snakes and called the law on me."
Culp says he was hit by the snake.
"The snake hit me on the side of my mouth and actually pulled the side of my mouth open," Culp said.
Smith was hauled off to jail charged with assault and battery and slapped with a $1,092.50 fine.
"It took me three hours of showering and about six hours sittin' on the bed of rockin back and forth to get that out of my mind," Culp said of the alleged assault.
“It was ridiculous for me to have to go to jail for something as little as that," Smith said.
"I didn't want what happened to him to happen to him. He's a kid. He's just a baby. I mean, I've got underwear older than him," Culp said.
After a night in jail Smith was back at the Executive Inn. His pet python is now with a friend.
