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 ladies searching for psychological health remedy trapped in a cage in the back was sentenced Thursday to 18 years in prison.

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

Judges ordered Wendy Newton, 45, and Nicolette Inexperienced, 43, to be involuntarily dedicated the day they died in September 2018, but their families mentioned they weren't violent. Newton was solely looking for medication for her fear and anxiousness and Inexperienced’s household said she was committed to a psychological facility at a regular psychological well being appointment by a counselor she had by no means seen earlier than.

Flood, 69, was sentenced about half-hour after the decision and after a number of kinfolk of the women mentioned his determination 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, cussed man,” Inexperienced's sister Donnela Inexperienced-Johnson informed the choose. “He abused the trust my sister, Nikki, Wendy and the state of South Carolina entrusted him with. And for what? To save time.”

Circuit Court Decide William Seales sentenced Flood to 5 years in prison on every involuntary manslaughter cost and four years on each reckless homicide charge and ordered the sentences served back-to-back.

The floodwaters swept the police van off its wheels in September 2018 and pinned it towards a guardrail, stopping the women 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, in accordance with testimony from the trial streamed by WMBF-TV.

The deputies stated they spoke to the women and tried to keep them calm for about an hour because the water stored rising before it got too dangerous and rescuers may not hear them.

“How awful should which have been to sit there and wait on your own dying?” Solicitor Ed Clements mentioned in his closing argument Thursday.

While other factors like an emergency radio that failed to notify rescuers of the van's exact location contributed to the deaths, Clements mentioned the drownings all came out of Flood’s reckless resolution to drive 2 miles (3.2 kilometers) by means of water.

National guard troops put up barricades on U.S. Freeway 76 just outside Nichols, however Flood drove round them after briefly talking to the troopers.

Clements read from Flood's statement to investigators that he felt like once he was within the water, he couldn't turn round as a result of he might now not see the edge of the highway and was worried about working right into a ditch hidden by the water.

“Perhaps it wounded his satisfaction or stubbornness. I don’t know. He pushed ahead into water that was not just standing in a tall puddle, however it was dashing, crossing the guardrail. All of it was the Little Pee Dee River by then,” Clements said.

Flood's lawyer said whereas it was a terrible tragedy, others have been making an attempt to unfairly blame just the former deputy instead of the gear problems, the troops that waived them across the barricades and supervisors who knew dangerous flooding was beginning and sent him even though taking the ladies to the psychological well being facilities was not an emergency.

"I ask that you resist the urge to try to give justice to those two girls by giving injustice to this good man," protection legal professional Jarrett Bouchette mentioned. “They wish to make him a scapegoat for this accident.”

Flood didn't testify, but earlier than he was sentenced advised the judge he tried every part he might to keep the ladies calm because the waters rose and help was sluggish to reach.

“It was a series of mistakes on my part and different folks that led me to that point and I’m sorry for what happened to the women,” Flood mentioned.

Flood and the deputy with him, Joshua Bishop, have been finally rescued from the highest of the transport van, authorities stated. Bishop will stand trial for 2 counts of involuntary manslaughter at a later date.

They tried to shoot the locks off the second door, but it surely still wouldn't open. The delay in getting assist was costly too. A firefighter testified they were capable of minimize the roof off the van and began working on the cage, however the water received larger and quicker and it was too dangerous to proceed.

Newton's son Charles said he hated that Flood had to study to observe the principles and use frequent sense at such a steep price.

“I can forgive, however I cannot overlook. Fortunately, I still remember my mother as a cheerful lady, a joyful woman who cherished her family," he stated. “But you, Mr. Flood, will remember my mother by listening to her screams in the back of that van."

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