MYRTLE BEACH, SC (WBTW) – A lawsuit has been filed against the Center of Hope of Myrtle Beach in connection to a deadly DUI car crash last year.
The lawsuit, filed Wednesday, is connected to a car crash that occurred April 5, 2017, on Mr. Joe White Avenue. Police say Deborah Bullock had huffed dust cleaner from a can early that morning. Bullock then drove to the Center of Hope where she was administered methadone, the lawsuit claims, and got back behind the wheel.
Bullock was driving on Mr. Joe White Avenue around 11 a.m. that morning when she crossed the middle line and slammed head-on into an oncoming vehicle. That crash killed 64-year-old Joan C. Banks-Miller, according to the Horry County coroner’s office, and injured Banks-Miller’s husband, the plaintiff behind the lawsuit.
An officer who spoke with Bullock noticed she was “swaying while on her feet, was lethargic and had constricted pupils,” according to records. Officers requested a search warrant for blood in reference to felony DUI.
Bullock says she “remembered a green light and nothing after that,” when later questioned by an officer about the accident at Grand Strand Medical Center. She reportedly also told the officer “around 6-7 a.m., she was huffing dust cleaner from a can.”
She admitted going to the Center of Hope in Myrtle Beach for methadone after huffing the cans, the police report stated. The reporting officer says Bullock denied huffing the can while driving.
The lawsuit claims the Center of Hope was negligent in giving methadone to Bullock without first testing to see if she already had drugs in her system. The court document also states the clinic gave Bullock an “excessive dose of methadone” when workers knew, or should have known, that Bullock drove herself to the clinic and before leaving was showing signs of impairment.
The suit concludes that the crash victim’s medical expenses, hospitalization, pain and suffering, disfigurement, emotional distress and mental anguish are a direct result of the clinic’s “grossly negligent and reckless conduct.”
While the lawsuit does not give a requested dollar amount, it does ask for attorney fees and “actual and punitive damages” based on the Center of Hope’s alleged negligence in giving Bullock methadone and contributing to the crash that killed the plaintiff’s wife.
According to the J. Reuben Long Detention Center booking records, Bullock was released from jail April 7, 2017, two days after killing a woman in a car crash due to allegedly being intoxicated while driving. Bullock is charged with felony DUI resulting in death and driving under a suspended license. Bullock was released on a $20,539 bond and is currently on home detention.
Court records on the Horry County Index show that just nine days prior to reportedly causing a fatal car crash, Bullock was arrested March 27 by Myrtle Beach Police for driving under a suspended license. Bullock was released on that charge on a personal recognizance bond of $539.
The felony DUI case against Bullock is still open.
