Coroner’s inquest: Lamar boy’s fire death accidental

It took a jury of four men and two women about five minutes to determine the death of an 11-year-old Lamar boy was accidental.

The jury’s ruling was based on testimony heard during an inquest into the death of Jamal Pringle held Thursday at the Lamar Town Hall by Darlington County Coroner Todd Hardee.

Pringle died inside his Davis Road home Dec. 20 of smoke inhalation after a blaze engulfed and destroyed the mobile home where he and his family lived.

A coroner’s inquest is a judicial hearing by which evidence and testimony are presented to a jury which decides the manner in which a person came to to their demise, said Hardee.

The inquest was conducted at the request of an outside party, he said. During the inquest, about 14 witnesses took the stand and told the jury what happened the night of Pringle’s death and during the investigation that began soon after.

Jody Atkinson, a certified fire investigator that worked the case, said the fire started because of a faulty wiring in the home’s stove.

“What I determined is that there were some electrical issues that, in my opinion, caused the fire,” Atkinson said. The back of the stove showed signs of intense heat which are a good indication of where the fire started, said Atkinson.

Atkinson told 4th Circuit Solicitor Will Rogers, who questioned him along with Hardee during the inquest, that the wiring in the back of the stove wasn’t up to code.

Instead of a plug from the stove going into the wall, there was wiring from the wall going into the stove, Atkinson told Rogers. Someone aside from the manufacturer of the stove had tampered with the wiring and made it unsafe, he said. Atkinson said the wire wasn’t of sufficient size for the stove because it was only 30 amps, and a stove needs at least 40 amps, preferably 50.

William Galloway, a fire codes consultant who worked the case, said as far as electrical wiring was concerned, the home was in poor condition.

“With one being the worse you’ve seen and 10 being the best, how would you rate this home?” Hardee asked Galloway.

“Electrically speaking, I’ll have to give it a one,” Galloway said.

State Law Enforcement Division special agent Mike Hill told the court he didn’t find any evidence of a smoke alarm in the home.

Jamal’s mother, Sandra Pringle, also told him there weren’t any smoke alarms present in the home, Hill said.

This doesn’t necessarily mean there wasn’t, he said. But in other fire cases he’s worked, Hill said he’s been able to see the remnants of a melted alarm.

Not having a working smoke alarm in a home being rented by a tenant is in violation of South Carolina law, said Galloway.

Sandra Pringle, who also testified during the inquest, told the court the stove had caused a small fire just before the fire that took her son’s life and destroyed her home.

“It got so hot it burned a hole in the floor,” she said.

Sandra Pringle said she told her landlord, Wilma Dargan, about the fire and Dargan summoned an electrician to to fix it.

Neither guilt nor innocence is determined during a coroner’s inquest, said Hardee. The results of that inquest can, however, be used in another judicial arena, he said.

Rogers said that the investigation into the fire that caused Pringle’s death isn’t complete. He can use the testimony given during the inquest to prosecute someone in criminal court, said Rogers.

He did not say if he intends to bring forth charges in connection with the boy’s death.