One night last February, things got a little dangerous inside a mobile home located in Central, South Carolina. At around 7:00 pm EST on the night in question, the hostess found what she later described as texting. “Inappropriate” calls on her husband’s phone.
Understandably, a confrontation ensued …
According to a police report made following the incident that followed, the man from the mansion left the residence “to buy some alcoholic beverages”.
Which, of course, was exactly what the situation demanded … right?
After his return, the confrontation increased … with the lady starting to throw one of the alcoholic beverages for the entire length of his residence in anger.
“She told (him) that she was leaving,” continued the incident report.
She left too … but not before two of his cell phones were broken with an iron skillet and not before a threat was made by you to “cut your damn tires”, according to the report.
Wait … two phones? Is this an Apple store?
At this point in our narrative, the woman crossed the street to take refuge in her parents’ house – conveniently located a few meters away. There, the couple’s two youngest children were staying with their grandparents.
Her husband did not like his decision to leave the house very much and chased her in his vehicle. Upon arriving at his in-laws’ house, he challenged his father-in-law to “go out and fight him,” according to the report.
“Come on, old man, I’m going to beat you up,” he exclaimed.
When the father-in-law approached to entertain the challenge, the man climbed into his vehicle and pulled out a .22 caliber pistol – shouting “I got an old man!” After allegedly pointing the gun at his father-in-law, the man fired six shots into the air before leaving “recklessly”, according to the incident report.
The father-in-law was not armed at the time of the confrontation …
All recorded reports of the incident indicate that the two young children of the combative couple observed this unfortunate scene of views on their grandparents’ property, “and were very upset and crying” with what they witnessed, according to the report.
According to the father-in-law, the man “has serious anger problems” and “would kill his daughter if something could not be done”.
After Pickens County officials, SC sheriff’s department marked several bullet casings used outside the residence, they ventured into the mobile home and discovered the considerable damage caused by the aforementioned frying pan.
The man who wielded this object was eventually accused of pointing and presenting a firearm and illegal possession of a pistol (unfortunately there are no accusations related to the frying pan). Supporters of the child believe he should have been charged even more – perhaps for illegal conduct towards a child for allegedly firing a gun in a state of anger and intoxication in front of his two youngest children.
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The father-in-law later regretted that the man had not been arrested at the scene. In fact, according to the deputies, he was “angry” at this delayed instance of justice.
“You are not doing your job, so I will do it for you,” he shouted.
When the police asked what he meant by that, the father-in-law replied, “I’m going to have to kill (him)!”
Yes so, Does this in any way, shape or form sound like a safe environment for these two youngest children?
No, it doesn’t.
According to our sources, despite the dire situation at the Pickens County residence, agents from the SC Department of Social Services (SCDSS) were not called to the scene to investigate. When a local citizen learned of what had happened and tried to inform the agency that two children may be in danger, she was told that “the reports did not work that way”.
That’s right … apparently, a SCDSS employee was not bothered to convey a credible concern for danger to children.
Frustrated, the woman logged on to the recently revealed SCDSS child abuse and neglect portal and tried to record her concerns in this way.
How did it work? Not very well …
According to the woman, the new SCDSS system is not easy to use – and this is where it starts to work.
(Click to view)
(Via: Provided)
“The portal is difficult to navigate,” she told us, adding that the interface and the questionnaire that followed made the process “time-consuming”.
“How difficult does it need to be?” she told us, frustrated with the new system.
Another lawyer for the child we spoke to agreed.
“It shouldn’t be that hard to navigate,” they told us, adding that the portal “has hiccups, even after learning to get around it.”
In fact. According to the woman from Pickens County, it took three attempts to successfully submit the online questionnaire related to the incident mentioned above. The first two times she tried, the portal kicked her and forced her to start the process again.
Following its launch in early December, SCDSS praised its new system as “increasing accessibility for callers or online users to ensure that their concerns are heard efficiently”. The agency referred to the new portal as “another way (SCDSS) is making changes to improve the way children and families are served in South Carolina”.
And even?
Of course, the new system is not without flaws … and as far as we can tell, there has been little change in the culture of this agency with regard to the actual work of monitoring the information it is collecting (as evidenced by the bureaucrat who is not took the trouble to pass on a tip to social workers).
The SCDSS has faced family criticism recently, while Palmetto State is battling what appears to be another preventable child homicide. This tragedy seven years ago led to the dismissal of a former agency director from the former governor Nikki Haley. While the current director of the agency Michael Leach was praised by lawmakers as a “rock star”, frontline child welfare officials tell us that he is just a “soft talker” who has more talent for covering the agency’s systemic problems than actually solving them .
In addition, Haley called his former director “rock star” too …
Needless to say, we will be following the SCDSS in the hope of holding the agency and its employees accountable for their efforts on behalf of the most vulnerable children in South Carolina. We were led to believe that the agency was making progress, but so far 2021 has raised serious concerns. about your operations …
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