FILE - In this Wednesday, Sept. 19, 2018, file photo, responders congregate near where two people drowned the evening before when they were trapped in a Horry County Sheriff's transport van while crossing an overtopped bridge over the Little Pee Dee River on Highway 76, during rising floodwaters in the aftermath of Hurricane Florence in Marion County, S.C. Charges are expected to be filed Friday, Jan. 4, 2019, against two South Carolina law enforcement officers who were transporting two mental patients who drowned while locked in the back of a van during the hurricane. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert, File)
COLUMBIA, S.C. – The Latest on two sheriff's deputies charged in the deaths of two women who drowned in a van during Hurricane Florence (all times local):
12:30 p.m.
Two former sheriff's deputies in South Carolina have been released after posting bail on charges of reckless homicide and involuntary manslaughter in the deaths of two women during Hurricane Florence.
Stephen Flood is charged with two counts of reckless homicide and involuntary manslaughter. Joshua Bishop is charged with two counts of involuntary manslaughter.
The officers were taking 45-year-old Wendy Newton and 43-year-old Nicolette Green to a mental health facility under a court order Sept. 18 when their van was swept away by floodwaters. The women drowned in the back of the van. Both officers were fired after officials determined they drove around barricades on the road.
Attorneys for both officers said they had no criminal record and both have strong ties to the community.
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8:55 a.m.
Two South Carolina law officers have been charged in the deaths of two women who drowned while locked in the back of a sheriff's department van during Hurricane Florence.
Court records show Stephen Flood has been charged with two counts each of reckless homicide and involuntary manslaughter. Joshua Bishop faces two counts of involuntary manslaughter. Both men are expected to have bond hearings Friday.
The two were fired from the Horry County Sheriff's Office in October. They were driving 45-year-old Wendy Newton and 43-year-old Nicolette Green to a mental-health facility under a court order Sept. 18 when their van was swept away by rising floodwaters.
Green and Newton drowned in the back of the van. Flood and Bishop have said they tried unsuccessfully to rescue them.
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