Ex-deputy will get 18 years after detainees drown in locked van

COLUMBIA, S.C. -- A deputy in South Carolina whose police van was swept away by floodwaters in the aftermath of Hurricane Florence, drowning two women looking for psychological well being therapy trapped in a cage within the back was sentenced Thursday to 18 years in jail.

A Marion County jury found 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 Green, 43, to be involuntarily committed the day they died in September 2018, but their households mentioned they weren't violent. Newton was only seeking medicine for her fear and nervousness and Green’s household mentioned she was committed to a mental facility at a daily psychological health appointment by a counselor she had by no means seen before.

Flood, 69, was sentenced about 30 minutes after the verdict and after several kin of the ladies said his decision to press ahead with the shortest route left an impossible-to-fix hole in their lives.

“This was a deliberate act set in movement by a pompous, cussed man,” Inexperienced's sister Donnela Green-Johnson advised the judge. “He abused the trust my sister, Nikki, Wendy and the state of South Carolina entrusted him with. And for what? To save lots of time.”

Circuit Court docket Choose William Seales sentenced Flood to five years in prison on every involuntary manslaughter cost and 4 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, stopping the ladies from having the ability 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 response to testimony from the trial streamed by WMBF-TV.

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

“How awful must that have been to sit down there and wait in your personal demise?” Solicitor Ed Clements said in his closing argument Thursday.

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

National guard troops put up barricades on U.S. Highway 76 simply exterior Nichols, but Flood drove round them after briefly talking to the troopers.

Clements read from Flood's assertion to investigators that he felt like once he was within the water, he could not turn around because he might now not see the sting of the highway and was anxious about running right into a ditch hidden by the water.

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

Flood's lawyer mentioned while it was a terrible tragedy, others were trying to unfairly blame just the previous deputy instead of the equipment issues, the troops that waived them around the barricades and supervisors who knew dangerous flooding was starting and despatched him though taking the ladies to the psychological health amenities was not an emergency.

"I ask that you just resist the urge to attempt to give justice to those two ladies by giving injustice to this good man," defense lawyer Jarrett Bouchette said. “They wish 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 may to keep the ladies calm as the waters rose and assist was gradual to reach.

“It was a collection of mistakes on my half and different those who 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, were eventually rescued from the highest of the transport van, authorities said. 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 still wouldn't open. The delay in getting help was pricey too. A firefighter testified they had been in a position to reduce the roof off the van and began engaged on the cage, however the water got larger and sooner and it was too dangerous to continue.

Newton's son Charles stated he hated that Flood needed to learn to follow the principles and use frequent sense at such a steep price.

“I can forgive, but I can't neglect. Fortunately, I still remember my mother as a contented woman, a joyful girl who beloved her family," he mentioned. “However you, Mr. Flood, will bear in mind my mom by listening to her screams in the back of that van."

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