OFFICER SUSPENDED AFTER EVIDENCE FLUSHED DOWN TOILET

GREENVILLE--A Greenville police officer has been suspended without pay
for three days after he flushed evidence down a toilet.

Chief Willie Johnson said the officer violated the department's policy
on handling evidence in March when he flushed a small amount of a
green, leafy substance suspected of being marijuana down the toilet
while he was moonlighting at Greenville Memorial Hospital.

Johnson said part of the problem was confusion about the Health
Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996, known as HIPAA.

The substance was given to the off-duty officer by a Greenville County
EMS employee, who had taken it from a patient involved in a car wreck,
Johnson said.

The officer didn't know where the substance came from or that it was
part of a Highway Patrol investigation until after a trooper inquired
about it, he said.

Officers are no longer getting information from hospital employees
about patients who may have illegal substances on them, he said. Prior
to the law, the officer would have been told whom the substance
belonged to, Johnson said.

Alonzo Smith, director of emergency medical services for Department of
Health and Environmental Control, said a paramedic can tell an officer
about finding drugs on a patient without violating HIPAA.