Hurricane Florence flood

Floodwater from the Little Pee Dee River flows close to the top of a bridge on U.S. Highway 76 near Nichols in Marion County on Sept. 18, 2018, hours before two women drowned in an Horry County jail van there. File/Grace Beahm Alford/Staff

HORRY COUNTY — Trapped in the back of a Horry County Sheriff’s Office transport van and allegedly left to die by two deputies, Wendy Haywood Newton and Nicolette Green had no idea they would spend their last moments of life in Marion County floodwaters after Hurricane Florence.

McLeod Health in Loris, as well as its staff, played a role in the death of Newton on that fateful day in 2018, according to a recently filed lawsuit.

Days before Hurricane Florence’s arrival in September 2018, Newton felt “anxious” and realized treatment was needed, so a medical transport arrangement was made to take her to Loris from North Carolina, where she lived, according to the lawsuit.

After arriving — accompanied by her daughter — Newton allegedly told hospital officials that a gowned figure known as “Penelope” had “tormented” her mind for years.

Newton was given medication and later placed in an emergency department room for transport to another facility with a psychiatric bed, according to medical records.

The lawsuit states a doctor “superfluously” determined that the medications provided to Newton were not working and that he would “do papers” to have her confined.

Court records said the hospital contacted a mental health counselor who also authorized transporting Newton to another facility despite “perils” associated with increasing flood waters and road closures.

Later in the afternoon, on Sept. 18, the lawsuit said, the hospital contacted law enforcement to transport Newton but were told that the Horry County Sheriff’s Office could not do so at the time because of flooding caused by Hurricane Florence.

The lawsuit said that hospital staff signed transport documents “affirming” Newton’s transport “was not likely to cause material deterioration of her medical condition despite the fact they knew, or should have known, of the dangerous flood conditions existing at that time.”

Court records said that Newton was discharged on the same day and turned over to the custody of the Horry County Sheriff’s Office.

Two deputies transported Newton in the “small middle compartment of a caged prisoner van” along with another patient who was headed for care “related to paranoid schizophrenia,” according to the lawsuit.

Court records said that while on the way to Darlington, the two deputies — not named as defendants in the lawsuit — drove through a flooded road near the Pee Dee River on Highway 76.

The deputies, Stephen Flood and Joshua Bishop, climbed out of the van while Newton, 45, and the other passenger, Green, 43, of Myrtle Beach, could not escape.

The firings of Flood and Bishop were announced several weeks after both women drowned.

In 2019, Flood and Bishop were each charged with two counts of involuntary manslaughter, punishable by up to 5 years in prison.

Flood, who drove the van, also faces two counts of reckless homicide, an offense that carries up to 10 years behind bars.

Their criminal cases are still pending in Marion County.

“As a direct and proximate result of the acts and omissions of the defendants, 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 flood waters rise inside their compartment and, as a direct and proximate result, sustained damages including extreme mental anguish, shock, horror, pain and suffering,” the lawsuit said.

The family of Newton is asking for “appropriate damages, both actual and punitive, based on plaintiff’s medical expenses, pain and suffering, permanent impairment and other related damages.”

A McLeod Health spokesperson said the hospital does not comment on pending lawsuits.

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Follow Richard Caines on Twitter at @rickcaines

Richard Caines is a business reporter for The Post & Courier - Myrtle Beach/Georgetown Times. He is a graduate of the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism at Arizona State University.

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