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.
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