Judge orders large payment to family of woman who drowned in Horry County Sheriff’s van
A judge has ordered that a $1 million payment be made to the family of a woman who drowned in the back of a flooded Horry County Sheriff’s Office van after Hurricane Florence in 2018.
Nicolette Green, also known as Nicolette French, is one of two women who drowned in the back of an Horry County Sheriff’s Office van Sept. 18, 2018 after deputies drove the vehicle through floodwaters.
The sheriff’s deputies who drove the van — Stephen Flood and Joshua Bishop — escaped, leaving Green and Wendy Newton to drown in a caged compartment of the flooded van. Flood and Bishop were fired from the Horry County Sheriff’s Office and charged criminally.
Linda Green, a family member who represents Nicolette Green’s estate, sued the manufacturer of the caged compartment installed in the back of the sheriff’s office van, American Aluminum Accessories, Inc.
Horry County Circuit Court Judge Michael G. Nettles ordered American Aluminum Accessories to pay $1 million to Linda Green and her attorneys. Linda Green is represented by Conway attorney Morgan Martin and Charleston law firm Pierce Sloan Kennedy & Early, LLC, according to the settlement filing. Phone calls to the attorneys’ respective law firms were not returned in time for publication.
Half of the million-dollar settlement was ordered for the wrongful death claim and the other half was allocated for survival claims, which are similar to personal injury claims filed on behalf of the deceased person.
Linda Green, on behalf of Nicolette Green’s estate, is also suing Horry County, the Horry County Sheriff’s Office, Sheriff Phillip Thompson, Sgt. Elizabeth Orlando and the two former deputies who drove the van Green and Newton drowned in — Flood and Bishop.
Nicolette Green, known to her family as Nikki, suffered from schizophrenia and depression, her family told The Sun News in 2018. A court order for an involuntary commitment to a mental health facility landed her in a caged compartment in the back of the Horry County Sheriff’s Office van in the aftermath of Hurricane Florence in September 2018.
Horry County Sheriff’s deputies were transporting Green and Newton, of Shallotte, N.C., from Conway to medical facilities in Darlington and Lancaster. The transport van was swept into flood waters in Marion County near U.S. Highway 76 and Pee Dee Island Road.
“They heard my sister screaming for help,” Donnela Green-Johnson, Nicolette’s sister, told The Sun News in 2018.
This story was originally published July 29, 2021 at 2:12 PM.
