South Carolina bill to provide training to transport MH patients

South Carolina law enforcement officers who are transporting mental health patients would be required to undergo specialized crisis‐intervention training under proposed legislation being drafted by a group of lawmakers, The State reported. A state Senate subcommittee held a second hearing Dec. 10 regarding the drowning deaths of two mental health patients during Hurricane Florence. Nicolette Green, 43, of Myrtle Beach, and Wendy Newton, 45, of Shallotte, North Carolina, drowned Sept. 18 in the back of an Horry County sheriff's van that submerged in floodwaters in Marion County. Family members say the deputies had been given an approved route to take that would avoid flooded roads. The deputies, who were later fired, couldn't free the women through the van's rear door because they did not have its key or bolt‐cutters, lawmakers were told. Committee Chairman State Sen. Marlon Kimpson, D‐Charleston, has drafted legislation that would require designated “therapeutic” members of law enforcement, trained in crisis intervention, to transport mental health patients. It also would require that physicians inform family and friends they have the option to transport patients themselves. “(The bill) recognizes that people with mental challenges should not be treated like criminals” and deserve to be shown “dignity and respect in the transport process,” Kimpson said.