Were drugs involved in a suspicious death? County attorney blocks release of info

Horry County says it will no longer release toxicology reports to the public despite providing these details to the media for several years.

The change comes after The Sun News and other media outlets have requested recent toxicology reports: one for a suspicious death and the other from a former Horry County police public information officer who abruptly resigned last month, one week after wrecking her county vehicle.

In March, a 20-year-old man was found dead in a ditch outside Remedies Bar and Grill. Horry County Coroner Robert Edge directed The Sun News to county attorney Arrigo Carotti after the newspaper requested that toxicology report.

The coroner's office did release the man's cause of death — asphyxia due to drowning. He was found dead in a U.S. 17 Bypass ditch, covered in mud after being reported missing the same night, according to an Horry County police report.

In an email Carotti sent to Edge this month, Carotti said the interpretation of the Freedom of Information Act has "changed somewhat in recent years" and should not be released.

That's not entirely accurate.

The S.C. Supreme Court ruled in 2014 that autopsy reports are medical records and may not be disclosed to the general public. According to a 2016 S.C. Attorney General opinion, coroners may talk publicly about the results of blood screenings for alcohol and drugs without violating health privacy law.

Carotti quoted an Attorney General opinion from the 2014 Perry vs. Bullock case in his email to Edge, "Because our Supreme Court has yet to apply its wide-open definition of 'medical record' set forth in Bullock with respect to autopsies, we can only speculate as to how the court would apply its definition to a toxicology report. Our best surmise, however, is that the court would reach the same conclusion as it did in Bullock — that toxicology reports are a 'medical record' and thus confidential."

An autopsy tells the cause of death. A toxicology report can tell if a person had medications or drugs in his or her system.

Every case is different, said S.C. Coroner's Association President Dennis Fowler.

He said there are three reasons not to release a report — the toxicology is pending, an investigation is ongoing or the case is pending in court.

There are cases when autopsies aren't performed.

"It's a judgment call," he said. In some cases, if there are no signs of trauma, there's not always an autopsy. "A prime example is suspicion of drugs," he said.

Carrotti told The Sun News a Freedom of Information request for the report would essentially be denied, arguing the report is a medical document and exempt under state law.

"We are adverse to being sued by releasing privileged information," Carotti said Monday. "That's our dilemma."

He said the county releasing the toxicology reports is against the law, not a change in the county's policy.

It was a mistake, Carotti said, that toxicology reports were released in the past.

"That was an oversight," he said. "They shouldn't have been provided."

Edge disagreed, and said the reports should be released.

"I would say if there's a public interest, probably so, yes," he said.

The South Carolina Law Enforcement Division, essentially the state's investigative law enforcement agency, routinely provides toxicology reports or the context of toxicology reports when the media requests them.

Meanwhile, Edge said he's unsure why the county's stance has changed.

"If there's not an autopsy report, I don't know that you could consider (toxicology reports) a medical record," Edge said. He noted there's always a toxicology report if an autopsy is performed.

The Sun News has received toxicology screenings in the past and since the 2014 Supreme Court ruling. A toxicology report was released to the newspaper in April 2017 by SLED following a December 2016 wreck on Bay Road.

Just last week, a letter publicly released from the solicitor's office referenced a toxicology report from an Horry County inmate who died while in custody. The letter from Scott Hixson, chief deputy solicitor, said Christopher Bennett died from "drug induced cardiac arrhythmia" and further noted "his toxicology report confirms the presence of several controlled substances."

Stephanie Pedersen, executive editor at The Sun News, said just because the government is perhaps allowed to withhold information, doesn't mean it should.

"Our readers deserve answers when it comes to suspicious deaths in their communities," Pedersen said. "This is another move in which our county government and attorney are trying to control the narrative, so the citizens aren't fully informed."

Hannah Strong: 843-444-1765, @HannahLStrong

This story was originally published June 29, 2018 at 12:18 PM.