Darlington County Coroner Todd Hardee says he will run for a fourth term of office.
J. Todd Hardee and his small staff, which includes two part-time deputy coroners, an administrative worker and contracted transportation services, are primarily responsible for determining the time, cause and manner of death, which most often includes those that are sudden, unexpected, and have no attending physician, and those that are suspicious or violent.
Hardee said he decided to seek a fourth term because the coroner's office can be a powerful platform for positive change. He says pronouncement of death and the determination of its cause are not the period at the end of the sentence for Hardee and his staff, and on many occasions during his 12 years in office, the tragic end of one life has served as the catalyst for saving many others.
"We had an incident recently where a child was born in one county, then was placed in foster care in another county before finally coming to Darlington County, where she died from injuries she received in county number one. If the coroner didn't look out for that child, who would?" Hardee said.
Hardee added, "The fact is that child died from injuries sustained months prior in another county. So subsequently, somebody had to take a lead role and say, we're not going to send this child away to be somebody else's responsibility. The buck's going to stop right here, and we are going to resolve it. If we don't do it, who will?"
Hardee has served the county since 2000.
