The short news story says “mental health patients”. It was two women who drowned in South Carolina while chained in the back of a sheriff’s van. The two deputies got out safely but left the women to die.
I do want to learn the women’s names so they will be remembered and their lives honored. If anyone gets that or other updates to this story please post and I’ll add to this opening diary.
This is terrifying for anyone suffering from mental health issues or who love someone with mental health issues:
2 mental health patients chained in back of sheriff's van drown as deputies rescued
Two female mental patients chained in the back of a county sheriff’s van drowned when the vehicle in which they were traveling was overcome by floodwaters, police said
The deputies who were transporting the two women to a different facility in South Carolina were saved, local law enforcement officials told ABC News late Tuesday.
The two women have not yet been identified.
The pair of Horry County Sheriff’s deputies who were in the van tried to extricate the patients, but, due to rapidly rising floodwaters, were unable to open the van's doors to reach the shackled women, according to a statement from County Sheriff Phillip Thompson. Rescue teams responded in time to save the deputies.
The coroner in neighboring Marion County confirmed the two deceased patients were female, and the South Carolina State Law Enforcement Division is investigating the incident, according to the statement.