A deputy in South Carolina whose police van was swept away by floodwaters in the aftermath of Hurricane Florence, drowning two women seeking mental health treatment trapped in a cage in the back has been sentenced to 18 years in prison
Highlights
- Former Horry County deputy Stephen Flood was found guilty of involuntary manslaughter and reckless homicide.
- Wendy Newton, 45, and Nicolette Green, 43, drowned in a police van after Hurricane Florence.
- The women were seeking mental health treatment when their van was swept away by floodwaters.
- Their families said they were not violent, but their families said their daughters were seeking medicine for fear and anxiety.
- Flood and a deputy with him did not have a key to a second door and there was no emergency escape hatch, testimony from the trial streamed by WMBF-TV.
- The deputies said they spoke to the women and tried to keep them calm for about an hour as the water kept rising before it got too dangerous.