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COLUMBIA, SC (AP) – As South Carolina's rivers overflowed with torrential rains in Florence, MPs drove two women to a mental health center to infiltrate their truck and trap women inside. .
The two deputies worked to release the women, who were transported Tuesday night as part of a court order, but were not able to save them at the back of the truck, told reporters the Sheriff of Horry County, Phillip Thompson.
"I do not know if that was the way the van was positioned, against a guardrail, or if there was a pressure of water, but unfortunately, they did not. could not open the doors of pickup trucks, "Thompson said. .
Rescue teams needed about 45 minutes to find the pickup truck, which was under water at that time, and ripped off the Horry County deputies from the roof, said the sheriff. Officials said the van was in Marion County, near the Little Pee Dee River, one of Florence's closely monitored bodies of water.
Because of the darkness, stakeholders decided that trying to recover the women's body in the van Tuesday night was not safe. This effort resumed Wednesday morning, and Thompson said a specialized team was flying to Charleston to help. At approximately 7:00 pm on Wednesday, Law Enforcement Division spokesperson Thom Berry confirmed that the bodies had been found.
Thompson identified women as Windy Newton, 45, and Nicolette Green, 43. Earlier Wednesday, Marion County Coroner Jerry Richardson identified Newton with a different surname.
Thompson told reporters that MPs seem to have bypassed a barrier blocking the road, but the investigation is underway.
"That has not been confirmed, but here's my question: there are barriers out there, one might assume that he did," Thompson said Wednesday.
Justin Bamberg, a lawmaker and state attorney who has represented the families of several people injured or killed by law enforcement officials, said he was puzzled by the decision to transport anyone in such uncertain weather conditions.
"If this road is in an area where there is a risk of flooding and the water rises, why were they driving on that road anyway?" he said. "People need to know exactly how it happened.This gives the impression that someone took a very unnecessary risk in creating the problem in the first place."
The incident resulted in investigations by the Law Enforcement and Highway Patrol Division. Thompson said he had also started an internal investigation and put MPs involved – Joshua Bishop and Stephen Flood – on administrative leave.
A woman who answered the phone to a number written to Flood told a reporter that he did not want to talk to anyone. There was no answer to a number listed for Bishop.
Thompson said he did not think the women were in the back of the van, noting that restraints were being used for militant patients "and I understand that no."
Under the South Carolina law, people who have been certified by a doctor as presenting an imminent risk of getting hurt due to a mental illness and who are the subject of an admission Involuntary emergency must be transported by the hospital. them, according to officials of the State Department of Mental Health.
According to the law, documents authorizing admission require "that a law enforcement officer, preferably in civilian clothes and preferably benefiting from an emergency intervention training, stop and transport the person to the hospital designated by the certification ".
The sheriff said his agency acted as a courier in such situations, to follow the wishes of a judge.
No woman has a criminal record in South Carolina, according to documents obtained from the state police. Their names have also not been recorded in the Prison and Justice Index Systems of Horry County.
Newton had posted on her Facebook page that she had already been hospitalized for a mental illness. She has posted several times about her difficulties.
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AP photographer Gerald Herbert in Conway and PA author Jeffrey Collins in Colombia contributed to this report.
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Kinnard can be reached on Twitter at http://twitter.com/MegKinnardAP. Read his work at https://apnews.com/search/meg%20kinnard.
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An earlier version of this report had an incorrect spelling of the name Windy Newton.
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