Law enforcement personnel learn how to investigate child deaths through multi-agency training

BERKELEY COUNTY, S.C. (WCBD) – Law enforcement officials from across the Lowcountry held a day-long child death investigation training at Cypress Gardens on Friday.

“By state statute, the coroner’s office is responsible for having a child death review on every child that dies under the age of 18 in the state of South Carolina,” explained Berkeley County Coroner Darnell Hartwell.

Hartwell and coroners from Charleston, Dorchester, and Williamsburg came together to hold the training at Cypress Gardens for dozens of people from 13 law enforcement agencies in the area.

“Hopefully they’ll be able to see some telltale signs on scenes as far as what the manner of death would be. A lot of times it could be something as minor as checking a baby’s bottle to make sure there’s no poisons in it or alcohol, or drugs in it,” said Dorchester County Coroner Paul Brouthers.

“This is a small county when it comes to population, but we still face a lot of adversities in our county, especially when it comes to drug-related deaths. We do have a few child fatalities. So that’s why coming to trainings like this just helps our office,” said Williamsburg County Coroner Ivory Henryhand.

Agents from the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division went over case studies of children who died in South Carolina. Ninth Circuit Solicitor Scarlet Wilson and Retired Charleston County Coroner Rae Wooten also addressed those gathered.

“While I may not be doing the case investigation myself now, if I can share that with the ones who are, hopefully, will make a lot of inroads in understanding why our children die, and how they died, then start saying what can we do to stop that,” said Wooten.

“In a lot of these cases, families are looking for answers and again it’s our job to make sure that we provide factual information to the families and also to our law enforcement partners, and to our constituents that we serve as well,” said Coroner Hartwell.

Coroner Hartwell said they’re going to continue doing this training each year. Next year, they’re planning to expand it to two days.