Berkeley County deputy fired after inmate escaped hospital

BERKELEY COUNTY, S.C. (WCBD) – The Berkeley County Sheriff’s Office (BCSO) on Tuesday announced the that a deputy has been fired for her role in an inmate’s escape from a Monck’s Corner hospital on Saturday.

Ryan David Ellis escaped from Trident in Moncks Corner after he was taken there for a “medical emergency.” He was located roughly an hour later after BCSO directed “all available manpower” and K9s to track him.

According to BCSO, an internal investigation into the actions of former detention deputy Marcia Hattel found that she “was negligent in properly restraining the inmate and failed to act once the escape was taking place.”

BCSO said that upon realizing Ellis was escaping, Hattel “failed to utilize her training and disregarded BCSO protocol for an inmate escape.” She also “did not possess the proper equipment that is issued to all detention deputies. [She] did not have a radio and was unable to alert about the escape in an acceptable time.”

Hattel had been with BCSO since May of 2016.

Editor’s note: This story is breaking and may be updated.