Charges dropped against ex-Horry deputy in 2018 SC drowning deaths

The 12th Circuit Solicitor’s Office has dismissed charges against a former Horry County sheriff’s deputy who was charged in the 2018 deaths of two women who drowned while being transported in a van during Hurricane Florence.

Joshua Bishop was charged with two counts of involuntary manslaughter. But 12th Circuit Solicitor Ed Clements the charges were dropped due to a lack of evidence, according to multiple news reports.

Wendy Newton and Nicolette Green died Sept. 18, 2018, after the transport van they were riding in was overtaken by water in the area of Nichols, South Carolina.

The women were being transported by deputies from Horry County hospitals to mental health centers in Darlington and Lancaster counties, when the deputies drove around a barricade and into high waters caused by the hurricane.

Stephen Flood, the driver, and Bishop, the passenger, waited on top of the van until crews came to rescue them about 45 minutes later. Flood and Bishop were taken to a hospital, but Green and Newton were left behind because of the dangerous conditions.

The woman’s bodies were recovered the next day.

Both deputies were fired a month later.

Bishop did everything in his power to get Newton and Green out of the van, WBTW-TV reported Clements said Friday.

Flood was sentenced in May to 18 years in prison after being found guilty on two counts each of involuntary manslaughter and reckless homicide.