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Two South Carolina deputies who wererescued from a flooded van during Hurricane Florencehave been fired as officials investigate the deaths oftwo mental health patients who drowned inside the vehicle, PEOPLE confirms.
Stephen Flood and Joshua Bishop were fired from the Horry County Sheriff’s Office on Wednesday, about a month after they allegedly drove around a barricade and into a flood-prone area as they attempted to transport Nicolette Green, 43, and Windy Newton, 45, to a facilityduring deadly Hurricane Florence.
Green and Newton were being transported from hospitals to a behavioral center on Sept. 18. Neither Green nor Newton have arrest records in the state,CBS Newsreported.
The deputies were traveling in the area of the Little Pee Dee River when they drove into floodwaters that quickly swamped the van. They tried to pull the women out, but couldn’t get the van doors open, Horry County Sheriff Phillip Thompsonsaid during a news conferencelast month. Thompson noted that the deputies “tried for a long period of time” to rescue the women. Search teams later found the deputies on top of the submerged van and rescued them.
Thompson said he does not believe the women were in restraints and noted that it is common for deputies to transport mental health patients. In the wake of the deaths,many have rallied behind the women.
“I feel very upset and kind of betrayed, because my mom was a very, very trusting person,” Rose Hershberger, 19, toldNBC Newsof her mother Green’s death last month. Hershberger said her mother was seeking help for schizophrenia at the time of her death.
“She still put her trust in the deputies that were supposed to take care of her and made sure she got there safely,” Hershberger said then.
At least 51 people died during Hurricane Florence, including 39 deaths in North Carolina, nine in South Carolina and three in Virginia, according toCNN.
source: people.com
