2 Ex-Deputies Charged After Patients Drowned in Sheriff's Van During Hurricane Florence

The deputy who was driving the van, Stephen Flood, 66, was charged with two counts of reckless homicide and two counts of involuntary manslaughter after authorities said he disregarded travel instructions and drove into floodwaters.

The officer who accompanied him, Joshua Bishop, 29, was accused of failing to prevent Flood from driving into the flood and was charged with two counts of involuntary manslaughter.

Both men posted bond and were released Friday. If convicted, they could serve time in prison. The range of punishment for reckless homicide includes up to 10 years behind bars; for involuntary manslaughter, it is up to five years.

The deputies, from the Horry County Sheriff’s Office, had been told to safely transport the patients to a mental health center in September, as Hurricane Florence drenched the Carolinas. They were not being evacuated from the floodwaters, but being moved from hospitals for further treatment.

One of the patients, Nicolette Green, 43, had schizophrenia and had been committed on the recommendation of her counselor. The other, Wendy Newton, 45, had asked to be taken to a hospital because she thought she was about to have a “spell.”

Law enforcement officers were assigned to drive them to the mental health center, as is routine under state law.

But the deputies did not take the path recommended by their supervisors, according to an affidavit. Instead, authorities said, they took an alternate route, passing through a barricade and driving into floodwaters on Highway 76 in Marion County in northeastern South Carolina.

Flood, who had been on the force for 10 years, and Bishop, who had been on the force for six years, were fired in October.

Allie Argoe, a lawyer for Flood, said in Marion County Magistrate Court on Friday that “he never had any intention to ever hurt those women.” Bert von Herrmann, who represents Bishop, called the case a “tragic accident” but said his client was a passenger who did everything he could to try to save the patients.

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.