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Lawsuits allege medical malpractice, police misconduct in death of homeless Myrtle Beach man

Sun News - 7/15/2021

Jul. 15—On Sept. 21, 2019, after almost a month in jail, Abed Michael Naqshabandi, an inmate who was supposed to be on mental health safety precautions, jumped from the second floor of J. Reuben Long Detention Center.

Officers at the jail tased Naqshabandi, restraining him and taking him to Conway Medical Center for the injuries to his legs, feet and elbows.

At the hospital, medical staff treated his injuries but, according to documents filed in Horry County court, failed to properly care for his mental health issues before discharging him that same day. Two Horry County Sheriff officers were in charge of supervising Naqshabandi on their trip back to the jail.

It was about a 20-minute drive back to J. Reuben Long Detention Center but Naqshabandi wouldn't make it. In the back of an Horry County Sheriff's van, the 28-year-old fatally injured himself with a seatbelt.

In two separate court filings, Naqshabandi's mother, Lisa Flaherty-Ortega, is trying to find justice for her son. Flaherty-Ortega filed a lawsuit in April 2020 accusing the Horry County Sheriff's Office of being responsible for the death of her son by failing to protect Naqshabandi while he was in custody. The second, a notice of medical malpractice against the doctor who treated him at the hospital. In South Carolina, a notice must be filed weeks before an actual lawsuit.

Matthew Johnson, an attorney for the Horry County Sheriff's Office declined to comment on the pending litigation. The Horry County Sheriff's Office also declined to comment.

Lawsuit against sheriff's office

A new filing in the ongoing lawsuit against the Horry County Sheriff's Office seeks to release medical records of Scott Legg, one of the cops who was transporting Naqshabandi and, according to court documents, has a history of mistreating prisoners.

Naqshabandi was arrested by Myrtle Beach police weeks before his death on charges of shoplifting and possession of a controlled substance. He spent weeks in jail, unable to pay a $2,000 bond. At the time of arrest, he did not have a permanent address in Myrtle Beach.

Naqshbandi had mental illness and made comments about harming himself while in custody, according to the lawsuit. He was placed on mental health safety precautions at the jail.

After leaving the Conway Medical Center, a result of the attempts to harm himself in jail, Naqshabandi was in the back of a sheriff's van driven by Legg and Cory Johnson. A live-video feed in the front of the van could be seen by the two officers in charge of transporting Naqshabandi, according to court documents.

Neither Legg nor Johnson are defendants in the lawsuit but are named throughout the filing.

The officers did not provide appropriate supervision which allowed Naqshabandi to fatally harm himself while the three drove from Conway Medical Center back to J. Reuben Long Detention Center, the lawsuit says.

When the officers got to the jail and checked on Naqshabandi he was unconscious. Emergency personnel gave him CPR and medicine to restart his heart. It worked, but he never regained consciousness. Two days later he was pronounced brain dead at Grand Strand Medical Center.

Legg's "long and checkered history"

Legg and Naqshabandi spent over two hours together at Conway Medical Center before a second officer arrived to drive back to jail. When he was asked by James Moore, Flaherty-Ortega's lawyer, whether their conversation was unprofessional Legg responded "I don't recall."

Moore asked if he had called Naqshabandi "stupid" for jumping off the second floor of the jail and Legg again responded that he didn't "recall if I used those exact words."

According to court documents, Legg, who is still employed by the Horry County Sheriff's Office, has a "long and checkered history" of dealing with inmates, especially those with mental illness, in an unprofessional and aggressive manner.

Legg's attorney, Peter Balthazor, declined to comment on the lawsuit.

In January of 2010, Legg was cited by a supervisor for "shouting vulgarities" and "cruelly insulting an inmate who was part of a "life-recovery" program. The program allows inmates to return to their home areas to serve the final legs of their sentences in a minimum security facility where they are tutored and mentored.

In June 2012, Legg received "informal counseling" after he stated he was "going to drag his testicles across the face of an inmate. The inmate was trying to place a call to his daughter, who had been hospitalized after an attempt to harm herself, according to court documents.

In November 2017, Legg received a "verbal reprimand" for, according to court documents, mishandling a mentally ill inmate, placing him at risk of physical harm.

During another incident in April 2018, Legg again received informal counseling for entering a jail unit with another officer and making siren noises, yelling "how are the f*—*ing prisoners today," according to the court documents. That same day he was overheard by another officer telling an inmate to "shut up you f*—*ing prisoner."

That month Legg received four separate disciplinary actions, according to court filings. One of which also involved a suicidal inmate. Legg "failed to supervise and oversee the use of force" regarding the inmate, which resulted in a delay of getting the inmate medical treatment.

Another incident involved Legg having "aggressive and inflammatory interactions" with an on duty police officer. A Conway police officer was at Walmart responding to a complaint and tried to drive around Legg's car, according to court documents. This led to a verbal altercation and Legg's one-day suspension. He was compelled to take anger management counseling after an internal investigation into his behavior.

Moore, Flaherty-Ortega's lawyer, is fighting for these anger management records to be made available to the court and is confident the judge will rule in his favor in a hearing scheduled for August. Balthazor, Legg's lawyer, argues in court documents that the records are private and confidential. He also said releasing these records would discourage others from being open in similar counseling.

According to a training history report from the South Carolina Law Enforcement Academy, Legg had not completed any training for dealing with inmates with mental health issues until 2020. He has been with the sheriff's office since 2007.

Medical malpractice lawsuit

In April 2021, Flaherty-Ortega filed a notice of medical malpractice, the first step in suing for medical malpractice, against Jeffery Misko. Misko, a doctor who was working with Conway Medical Center at the time, did not practice the normal standard of care for a mental health patient.

Phone messages left Wednesday with Hugh Bucyk, Misko's lawyer, seeking comment by The Sun News were not answered.

The lawsuit accuses Misko was grossly negligent by not evaluating Naqshabandi after his attempts to harm himself. He also did not obtain psychological consultation for Naqshabandi, confirm there was available mental health care at the jail or contact the psychiatrist who was going to treat him at the jail, court documents stated

Misko also should not have discharged an actively suicidal patient, according to court documents including an expert affidavit from Dr. Edward O'Brien who spent three years practicing emergency medicine.

Policies and Procedures

The Sun News reviewed versions of the Horry County Sheriff's policies and procedures for prisoner transportation and interactions with mentally ill persons that were last updated in 2018.

According to the documents, transporting officers should be able to visually observe prisoners in their custody at all times. Prisoners should also always be restrained with handcuffs and buckled in with a seatbelt. In some transport vans a protective screen separates the driver from the prisoner and, according to court documents, the officers transporting Naqshabandi had a live video feed of the back seat of the vehicle.

The policies and procedures contain a section about how to transport what the Horry County Sheriff refers to "mentally disturbed" prisoners.

If it appears that a prisoner's "violent or bizarre" behavior may constitute risk of harm to himself or others, documents say, the prisoner can be transported on a stretcher in an ambulance with handcuffs or other body restraints. This method is only used after other methods have been determined "unfeasible."

Horry County Sheriff deaths

When Naqshabandi died in 2019, it marked the third person with mental health issues to die in Horry County Sheriff's Office custody.

The families of two women who drowned in the back of a transport van in the aftermath of Hurricane Florence in September 2018 sued the agency over their death.

Two deputies drove around a barricade and into floodwaters in the Nichols area. A deputy tried to free the women, but was unsuccessful. The officers waited on top of that van for rescue while the women drowned. Both deputies were criminally charged in connection to the drownings.

The victim's families both filed federal lawsuits over the deaths.

BEHIND OUR REPORTING

Resources for mental health help

Free crisis support is available:

— National Crisis text line: Text HOME to 741741

— National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: 800-273-8255 or 1-800-273-TALK

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