The death of a resident of South Carolina raised questions, and chief among them — why the man was taken to the police station to check on the breathalyzer instead of a hospital.
On 12 August 2018, a 58-year-old father of three children Nathaniel Rhodes crashed his van NV. It is not known what caused the accident, but when the man is already on the stretcher in the ambulance, the officer noticed the car of the victim open a bottle of wine and decided to have him check it on the spot.
According to the police report, Rhodes said that «he had no injuries that would prevent him pass the test», but when it was taken out of the ambulance, «couldn’t keep his balance». In this regard, the officer decided to send Rhodes to the Charleston police Department to place the case of drunk driving.
According to the medical records, at that time a man had eight broken ribs, internal injuries and a ruptured liver. According to the lawyer of the family of Justin Bamberg, in the end, father went into a coma and died four days later.
For the CCTV surveillance that Bamberg has provided to NBC News, medical staff at the police station don’t seem to understand that the roads broken ribs or have any other internal injuries. Their records show that the level of alcohol in driver’s blood was 0.11 that exceeds the allowable limit of 0.08 for South Carolina.
«Being on the site, Rhodes complained that he was very hurt, say in a law firm, protecting the roads. — His requests apparently were not taken seriously, as the video depicted one of the paramedics who was supposed to take care of the Roads, dancing and commenting on how he «looks good on the shooting»».
The family of the deceased believes that the decision not to take him to a hospital led to the lapse of time and, ultimately, to death. Besides, in the form of refusal of medical care instead of signing Rhodes was the signature of the officer.
The chief of police of Charleston Luther Reynolds ordered the law enforcement division of South Carolina to conduct an independent investigation.
«The loss of life is always tragic, and we need to treat it very seriously,» said Reynolds.
An officer with the Charleston Police Department is suspended with pay this morning. SLED is now investigating the death of Nathaniel Rhodes who died in police custody last August.#chs #chsnews https://t.co/ac62XDgc1k pic.twitter.com/kpSkDTFT9J
— FOX 24 News (@FOX24Charleston) February 26, 2019
And though the involved officer was placed on administrative leave, according to Bamberg, the Rhodes family is considering filing a lawsuit against the Department.
