Stranded 12-year-old rescued 600 yards from shore, SC cops say. Grandma charged
A stranded 12-year-old girl was rescued 600 yards from the shore, and now her grandma is charged, South Carolina deputies said.
The grandmother is accused of putting the child in danger while the two were on a jet skiing trip Tuesday, July 1, according to the Berkeley County Sheriff’s Office.
“Not only was this child’s life put at risk, but so were the lives of our first responders who entered dangerous conditions to conduct the rescue,” Sheriff Duane Lewis wrote in a news release. “These actions are unacceptable and criminally negligent.”
First responders were called to a report of a child who vanished near the Bushy Park Boat Landing, deputies told WCBD and WCSC. The landing allows visitors to access a river in the Goose Creek area, a roughly 20-mile drive northwest from the popular tourist destination of Charleston.
Crews used drones and boats to search for the missing girl before she was spotted.
“The juvenile was located in marshland approximately 600 yards from the boat ramp,” the sheriff’s office wrote. “She suffered cuts and abrasions to her arms and legs and was transported to an area hospital for treatment and further evaluation.”
The child’s grandmother reportedly told a 911 dispatcher that she had gotten stuck on a jet ski, so her granddaughter tried to swim to get help. But deputies believe the woman’s initial story was a lie.
The sheriff’s office said it discovered the grandmother and granddaughter “took separate jet skis and one of them was not working correctly.” When they both got stranded, the woman “instructed the juvenile to swim back to the boat landing for help,” despite “hazardous conditions such as strong currents, high winds, and known wildlife threats in the area,” deputies wrote.
The grandmother was arrested and charged with unlawful conduct towards a minor. She was taken to jail, and the S.C. Department of Social Services was alerted to the case, deputies said.
The sheriff’s office didn’t immediately share additional information with McClatchy News on July 2.
