Pubdate: Fri, 14 Nov 2003 Source: Charleston Gazette (WV) Copyright: 2003 Charleston Gazette Contact: http://www.wvgazette.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/77 Author: Chris Wetterich, Staff Writer Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/racial.htm (Racial Issues) Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/coke.htm (Cocaine) FEDERAL JUDGE TOSSES PART OF RACIAL PROFILING SUIT A federal judge Thursday threw out part of a lawsuit filed by three black West Virginia State College students claiming Charleston police officers stopped them because of their race. The students are suing 11 Charleston police officers, one Nitro officer, one Dunbar officer, former Charleston Mayor Jay Goldman and former Charleston Police Chief Jerry Riffe alleging, among other things, false arrest and illegal detention for an April 30, 2002, traffic stop near Charleston Town Center on Washington Street. U.S. District Judge Charles H. Haden II dismissed the portion of the lawsuit alleging wrongful arrest because he said a one-year statute of limitations had expired when the students filed an amended lawsuit naming the officers on Oct. 1. In the original suit, filed April 30, 2002, the officers were listed as John Does. The students, Drew Williams of Grayson, Ga.; Jason Price of Kimball; and Courtney Shannon of South Holland, Ill., did not originally file the names of the police defendants because they did not know who stopped them at the time, lawyers for the students said. The names of the officers were later found. They are: A. Chad Napier, William Hart, Brian W. Kinnard, Brian W. Jones, Jarl F. Taylor, Anthony E. Payne, George Henderson III, Scott A. Frame, Randy M. Young, Michael Pridemore and J.T. Waggy of the Charleston Police Department, Joseph Savilla of the Nitro Police Department and Michael G. Wolfe of the Dunbar Police Department. On April 30 around 9:30 p.m., Hart pulled the students over and the other officers surrounded Shannon's car, guns drawn. Police ordered Shannon to toss his keys out the window. Then each student was ordered, one at a time, to get out of the car and on their knees where they were handcuffed while officers searched the car and each student for an hour, the suit says. One officer told Williams repeatedly that they saw someone hand an item to one of the occupants before they left a barbershop on the East End earlier in the evening, the suit alleges. In a response to the lawsuit, the officers admit stopping the students and finding no evidence of criminal activity but deny that they told the students that they believed someone handed them an item. But Police Chief Jerry Pauley, then a major, told the Gazette in 2002 that the officers had probable cause to stop the car and believed a vial of crack cocaine had been handed to the students. The vial turned out to be toiletry items the students had bought. Five other counts against the officers alleging violations of the students' constitutional rights, civil rights, assault and battery and "intentional outrageous conduct" remain alive in the suit. The students are seeking unspecified monetary damages, punitive damages and attorney's fees. They also want Judge Haden to order the police department to keep a record of the race of every person stopped for traffic violations, the reason for the stop and to note whether a search was conducted and why. A trial is scheduled for May 18. To contact staff writer Chris Wetterich call 348-3023. - --- MAP posted-by: Jackl