On April 4th, a man went into a coma while in Horry County Police custody after swallowing a bag with about 20 grams of crack cocaine.
“In my 18 years here, I never seen anyone try to swallow a whole ounce of cocaine,” said Lieutenant Raul Denis with the Horry County Police Department.
The police report says Officer Steven Rhew pulled over the suspect for a suspended license.
The report says Officer Rhew searched the suspect and found a small bag of what appeared to be crack cocaine.
That is all the report states the officer found during his search.
“He could have swallowed this before he pulled over,” said Lt. Denis.
Lt. Denis says the officer placed the suspect under arrest and had no idea there was any problem until they were in the car.
“On the way to the jail, he {the suspect} says ‘I can’t breathe. I swallowed a bunch of cocaine,” he said.
Lt. Denis says Officer Rhew pulled over immediately; called ems; and tried to assist in any way possible, but Horry County Police are not trained in medical care.
“That fast, the individual was unconscious and not breathing very well,” he said.
Lt Denis says medics got the bag out of the suspect’s throat and retrieved 19.5 grams of crack; with an estimated value of about $2,000.
The bag was open when medics pulled it out and Lt. Denis says he is not sure if or how much of the drug the suspect swallowed.
He says it is a unique situation and he is confident in how his officer responded.
“Procedurally I don’t think there was anything that could have been done differently in that case,” said Lt. Denis.
Because the suspect is still in a coma no charges have been filed and his identity has not been released.
Lt. Denis says if the suspect dies, Horry County Police or SLED will investigate.
