Crime · Columbia, SC
Columbia Custody Officer Arrested for Allegedly Slamming Mental Hospital Patient
Thomas Smalls, 27, of Columbia, South Carolina, was arrested Tuesday and charged with abuse of a vulnerable adult after allegedly slamming a patient to the ground at the Wellpath Recovery Solutions facility on Aug. 4. The facility, located at 7901 Farrow Road near Interstate 20, is partnered with the South Carolina Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities – Office of Mental Health. The victim was treated at Prisma Health Richland hospital for a roughly one-inch head laceration. SLED investigated after the institution requested its involvement, and Smalls will be prosecuted by the 5th Circuit Solicitor's Office.