Ex-deputy gets 18 years after detainees drown in locked van

COLUMBIA, S.C. -- A deputy in South Carolina whose police van was swept away by floodwaters within the aftermath of Hurricane Florence, drowning two girls seeking psychological health remedy trapped in a cage in the again was sentenced Thursday to 18 years in prison.

A Marion County jury discovered former Horry County deputy Stephen Flood guilty of two counts of involuntary manslaughter and two counts of reckless murder.

Judges ordered Wendy Newton, 45, and Nicolette Inexperienced, 43, to be involuntarily committed the day they died in September 2018, but their households mentioned they were not violent. Newton was only in search of drugs for her worry and anxiety and Green’s family mentioned she was dedicated to a psychological facility at a daily mental well being appointment by a counselor she had by no means seen before.

Flood, 69, was sentenced about 30 minutes after the verdict and after a number of family of the ladies said his decision to press forward with the shortest route left an impossible-to-fix gap of their lives.

“This was a deliberate act set in motion by a pompous, stubborn man,” Green's sister Donnela Green-Johnson told the choose. “He abused the belief my sister, Nikki, Wendy and the state of South Carolina entrusted him with. And for what? To avoid wasting time.”

Circuit Court docket Judge William Seales sentenced Flood to five years in prison on each involuntary manslaughter cost and four years on every reckless homicide cost and ordered the sentences served back-to-back.

The floodwaters swept the police van off its wheels in September 2018 and pinned it against a guardrail, preventing the ladies from being able to get out the sliding door they used to enter the van. Flood and a deputy with him did not have a key to a second door and there was no emergency escape hatch, according to testimony from the trial streamed by WMBF-TV.

The deputies stated they spoke to the ladies and tried to maintain them calm for about an hour as the water saved rising before it obtained too harmful and rescuers might not hear them.

“How terrible should which were to sit down there and wait in your personal death?” Solicitor Ed Clements mentioned in his closing argument Thursday.

While other components like an emergency radio that did not notify rescuers of the van's exact location contributed to the deaths, Clements mentioned the drownings all got here out of Flood’s reckless resolution to drive 2 miles (3.2 kilometers) through water.

Nationwide guard troops put up barricades on U.S. Highway 76 just exterior Nichols, however Flood drove round them after briefly speaking to the soldiers.

Clements learn from Flood's statement to investigators that he felt like as soon as he was within the water, he could not flip around as a result of he might not see the sting of the freeway and was worried about operating right into a ditch hidden by the water.

“Possibly it wounded his pride or stubbornness. I don’t know. He pushed forward into water that was not just standing in a tall puddle, but it surely was speeding, crossing the guardrail. All of it was the Little Pee Dee River by then,” Clements mentioned.

Flood's lawyer mentioned whereas it was a terrible tragedy, others had been making an attempt to unfairly blame simply the former deputy as an alternative of the equipment issues, the troops that waived them across the barricades and supervisors who knew harmful flooding was beginning and despatched him though taking the ladies to the psychological health services was not an emergency.

"I ask that you simply resist the urge to attempt to give justice to these two women by giving injustice to this good man," defense legal professional Jarrett Bouchette said. “They want to make him a scapegoat for this accident.”

Flood did not testify, but earlier than he was sentenced informed the judge he tried every part he might to maintain the women calm as the waters rose and help was gradual to reach.

“It was a collection of errors on my part and other people that led me to that time and I’m sorry for what happened to the women,” Flood stated.

Flood and the deputy with him, Joshua Bishop, have been eventually rescued from the top of the transport van, authorities said. Bishop will stand trial for two counts of involuntary manslaughter at a later date.

They tried to shoot the locks off the second door, but it nonetheless wouldn't open. The delay in getting assist was pricey too. A firefighter testified they were capable of reduce the roof off the van and started working on the cage, however the water got increased and sooner and it was too harmful to proceed.

Newton's son Charles said he hated that Flood had to learn to observe the rules and use frequent sense at such a steep worth.

“I can forgive, but I can't forget. Fortunately, I still keep in mind my mother as a cheerful girl, a joyful girl who cherished her family," he mentioned. “However you, Mr. Flood, will keep in mind my mom by hearing her screams in the back of that van."

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Follow Jeffrey Collins on Twitter at https://twitter.com/JSCollinsAP.