South Carolina

Sheriff: Guard waved van around barricade before 2 drowned

By MEG KINNARD, Associated Press

Responders congregate Wednesday, Sept. 19, 2018 near where two people drowned Tuesday evening when they were trapped in a Horry County Sheriff transport van while crossing an overtopped bridge over the Little Pee Dee River on Hwy 76, during rising floodwaters in the aftermath of Hurricane Florence in Marion County, S.C. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

By MEG KINNARD, Associated Press

COLUMBIA, S.C. — Officials say South Carolina deputies - after being waved through by National Guardsmen - drove a transport van around a barricade blocking a flooded road shortly before two mental patients drowned inside.

Horry (OR-ree) County Sheriff's Office spokeswoman Brooke Holden told The Associated Press on Thursday that Guardsmen allowed deputies to drive around a barrier the night of Sept. 18 because they were in a law enforcement vehicle.

[Women die in flooded van driven by South Carolina deputies]

State police opened a probe after the women's deaths on a flooded Marion County road. Deputies were transporting the patients as part of a court order as flood waters rose in the area due to heavy rains from Hurricane Florence.

The deputies have been placed on leave.

A South Carolina National Guard spokeswoman didn't immediately respond to an email seeking comment.

Associated Press

Most Read