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Family targets hospital over treatment before drowning in Horry County sheriff's van

Sun News
Sep 17, 2020

Sep. 17--The family of one of the mental health patients who drowned in the back of a Horry County Sheriff van plans to sue a local hospital over her involuntary commitment and transport.

Wendy Newton's family filed a notice of intent to file a medical malpractice suit in Horry County Court on Thursday. The notice must be filed before the actual lawsuit, according to South Carolina procedures for medical malpractice.

The filing comes a day before the second anniversary when Newton and Nikki Green drown in a van transporting them for treatment. They were being moved in the aftermath of Hurricane Florence when many roads were flooded. Two now-fired deputies drove the van around a barricade outside of Nichols and into floodwaters.

Rising waters swept the van off the road. The deputies escaped, but Newton and Green drowned in the back of the van as they waited for rescuers on Sept. 18, 2018.

Both of the victims' families previously filed civil lawsuits in federal court against the sheriff's office and others over the women's deaths. The two deputies -- Stephen Flood and Joshua Bishop -- face criminal charges.

Latest lawsuit

Newton suffered from paranoid schizophrenia and felt anxious as Hurricane Florence approached, the newest filing states. Her lawyer previously told The Sun News and the pre-filing notes that Newton suffered from hallucinations that a figure named "Penelope" was trying to harm her.

On Sept. 18, 2018, Newton arranged for herself to be taken to the hospital from Chadbourn, North Carolina, to McLeod-Loris Seacoast Hospital.

Newton was given medication and placed in the emergency department for eventual transport, according to the filing.

Around 11:30 a.m., hospital staff ordered that Newton be involuntarily committed to a facility with a psychiatric bed. The facility was outside of Horry County.

A doctor noted at 12:30 p.m. that Newton's condition was not improving and he would sign the commitment papers, according to medical records and the latest legal filing. The hospital contacted a counselor who helped authorize Newton's transport "despite the obvious perils associated therewith, including increasing floodwaters and road closures throughout the area," the filing reads.

McLeod-Loris Seacoast Hospital contacted the Horry County Sheriff's Office to transport Newton and was initially told they would not transport that day because of flooding, the filing claims.

Investigators say a meeting occurred between officials with the Horry County Sheriff's Office and deputies where they talked about the transport and where the deputies were advised not to take a route through Nichols because of floodwaters. Lawyers for Flood and Bishop denied that meeting happened.

Around 5:15 p.m., medical staff discharged Newton to the custody of the Sheriff's Department.

The deaths

Newton sat in the back of an Horry County Sheriff's transport van along with Green. Green was at another Horry County medical facility and was committed to psychiatric care. The back of the van is a caged-like area that was padlocked.

Neither woman was restrained as they were being transported as many roads were closed because of floods.

Flood drove the van and Bishop was a passenger. The two took a route through Nichols and Highway 76. There, the deputies encountered a National Guard vehicle that blocked an impassable road. The two deputies spoke to the guardsman and drove around the barricade, investigators say.

About a mile further, the van was pushed off the road by rising waters and pinned against a guardrail.

Flood could not escape at first as his window would not go all the way down, he told investigators. Bishop freed himself and went to the back of the van and tried to free the women. He also tried to shoot the padlock off, but his efforts were unsuccessful.

Bishop went back to the front of the van and helped free Flood by pulling him through the partially rolled-down window, he told state investigators.

The two deputies waited on top of the van as the waters continued to rise and rescue crews from Marion and Horry counties tried to find the van and navigate the rushing waters. Newton and Green were locked in the van and drowned before crews could free them.

It took more than a day until their remains could be recovered.

Legal actions

The latest legal filing says the hospital and medical staff -- all of whom were named as defendants in the notice of medical malpractice filing -- were negligent in transporting Newton.

As a result of the hospital's actions, Newton "died a slow and horrific death crammed inside a tiny metal cage with another woman whom she did not know as they helplessly watched the floodwaters rise inside their compartment," the filing reads.

Officials from McLeod Hospital said they do not comment on pending lawsuits.

The notice of filing does not specify how much money the family seeks for her death.

Flood and Bishop were criminally charged in connection to the two women's drownings. Both of their criminal cases, being heard in Marion County, have been at a standstill for months. Flood faces two counts of reckless homicide and two counts of involuntary manslaughter. Bishop faces two counts of involuntary manslaughter.

Reckless homicide is punishable by up to 10 years in prison. Involuntary manslaughter can be punished by up to five years incarceration.

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