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| S.C. Deputy Leaves Man Handcuffed at Prison Hospital |
| By Associated Press |
| Published: 12/16/2002 |
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A Pickens County, S.C., sheriff's deputy left a mental health patient handcuffed to a fence at a Columbia prison hospital after the staff refused to admit him because there was no vacancy. Officials said the incident shows that mental health care has reached a crisis level. The Department of Mental Health has suffered large budget cuts and faces the possibility of more cuts this year. Mental Health spokesman John Hutto said the Columbia Care Center, which is a secure hospital, has a waiting list of about 45 to 50 inmates across the state. Hutto said the hospital refused to admit the 46-year-old Pickens man on Nov. 26 because he was not on the waiting list. An officer found the man 10 minutes later and he was admitted to an emergency bed, Hutto said. 'We consider the actions of the deputy sheriff to be inappropriate and outrageous,' Hutto said. Pickens Assistant Sheriff Tim Morgan said they had a court order to deliver the man to the hospital. He said Sheriff C. David Stone told the deputy to leave the man there. 'We fulfilled the court order,' Morgan said. The patient was charged with assault and battery with intent to kill last year after he repeatedly rammed his truck into a car and tried to push it off a bridge, according to an arrest warrant. The car had a 911 sticker in the rear window and the man believed that 911 steals credit card and bank account numbers and then kills people, according to the warrant. The man thought he could prevent that by killing the people in the car, police said. He was found unfit to stand trial and ordered by a judge to be hospitalized by the Mental Health Department. After it was determined that he was not competent to stand trial, the Sheriff's Office no longer had a charge to hold him on, Morgan said. He said the Pickens County Detention Center also is overcrowded at times but 'we don't have the luxury to not take somebody.' Dave Almeida, executive director of the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill in South Carolina, said he understands the frustrations of law enforcement but that doesn't justify the officer's action. |
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