Cops: Victim gets machete, attacker loses finger

ST. HELENA ISLAND, S.C. (AP) — Beaufort County deputies say a man trying to fend off three attackers managed to grab a machete, cutting off the finger of one assailant and sending another to the hospital with a head wound.

Investigators say the men were drinking early Sunday morning at a migrant camp on St. Helena Island when a fight broke out. Bystanders broke it up, and the men left.

But a few hours later, deputies say the men broke into the other man’s home and began to beat him until he picked up the machete.

Authorities haven’t charged the man with the machete because they say it appears he acted in self-defense.