Pubdate: Fri, 05 Dec 2003
Source: Post and Courier, The (Charleston, SC)
Copyright: 2003 Evening Post Publishing Co.
Contact:  http://www.charleston.net/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/567
Author: Warren Wise
Webpage: http://www.charleston.net/stories/120503/loc_05goose.shtml
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/topics/goose+creek (Goose Creek)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?225 (Students - United States)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/youth.htm (Youth)

SCHOOL RAID SENT TO STATE OFFICE

Hoisington Hands Case Over Rather Than Rule Himself

GOOSE CREEK--Solicitor Ralph Hoisington said Thursday that while he was 
"appalled" by the controversial drug raid Nov. 5 at Stratford High School, 
he won't prosecute Goose Creek police officers and will instead ask the 
state attorney general to investigate.

Hoisington, who sometimes prosecutes arrests made by Goose Creek police 
officers, said he wanted to avoid any perceived conflict of interest. He 
turned the state investigation over to Attorney General Henry McMaster for 
an independent determination of whether criminal violations occurred.

Hoisington asked the State Law Enforcement Division to share its findings 
with the U.S. Justice Department and the FBI to determine whether any 
federal laws were broken.

Hoisington reviewed the school's videotapes and a 200-page SLED probe into 
the drug sweep in which students were forced at gunpoint to lie down in a 
hallway and subjected to drug searches that turned up empty. Some students 
were handcuffed.

Hoisington offered no conclusions as to whether charges should be filed 
against the officers.

"I could not reach that level of surety," he said at a news conference at 
Goose Creek City Hall. "It needs to be looked at further by an independent 
agency."

In a prepared statement, he said: "While I am confident the goals of the 
Goose Creek Police Department were appropriate, the actual methods employed 
by certain officers were ill-advised at best. My review of the surveillance 
tapes and witness interviews left me with questions and concerns regarding 
the actions of several officers involved in the intervention."

Children who have done nothing wrong do not deserve such treatment, 
Hoisington said.

"The students are not at war with police, and it shouldn't appear that 
way," he said.

Despite Hoisington's announcement, the debate about the sweep is likely to 
end up in other legal arenas.

A group of local trial lawyers planned to file a federal class action 
lawsuit today on behalf of the Stratford students and their parents, said 
Ron Motley, the group's lead attorney.

The lawsuit will allege that Goose Creek police and school officials 
violated students' constitutional rights during the sweep, he said.

"There is overwhelming evidence to support the claim that police were 
abusive and used excessive force on these children," Motley said.

He added that the lawsuit will not allege that police were involved in any 
racial targeting.

"We don't have any strong evidence that this happened at this time," he 
said, "though as we get into the case, we may find that this did happen."

He said the lawsuit will be filed in U.S. District Court in Charleston. 
Hoisington said the attorney general could keep the case or pass it on to 
another prosecutor.

"Once we receive the solicitor's information, the SLED report and any 
related material, it will receive a thorough review by the attorney 
general's office," McMaster spokesman Trey Walker said. "The options 
available are to decline prosecution, prosecute or refer it to another law 
enforcement entity."

Officers are not off the hook, Hoisington said.

"It is clear to me that some deserve more scrutiny than others," he said. 
Fourteen officers participated in the raid.

If the officers' actions rise to the level of a crime, Hoisington said, 
state charges could include assault, assault and battery, or assault and 
battery of a high and aggravated nature. Federal charges would involve 
civil rights violations, he said.

Goose Creek Mayor Mike Heitzler defended the officers, saying the school 
reported 15 drug-related charges during the first four months of the school 
year compared with 19 for all of last year. He said there were six weapons 
charges last year and a couple so far this year.

He declined to say whether officers have been instructed to change their 
tactics during school drug sweeps, but he said the department has learned 
some lessons and is asking other agencies how they deal with similar raids.

"We want to do it in a way that doesn't infringe on the rights and 
liberties of children in our schools," he said.

Stratford Principal George McCrackin invited police into the school after 
reviewing four days of videotapes from the school's 70 surveillance 
cameras, which he said showed a marked increase in drug activity in the 
targeted hallway.

Members of the Rainbow/PUSH Coalition, who say black students were unfairly 
targeted in the drug sweep, were not surprised by Hoisington's decision to 
ask for higher review. Seventy percent of the 107 students subjected to the 
raid were black.

"As a lawyer, I know you can't prosecute your own police," said Janice 
Mathis of the civil rights group's Atlanta office. "I am cautiously 
optimistic the process will work."

Elder James Johnson, president of the Charleston Rainbow/PUSH Coalition, 
agreed.

"It needs to go to the Justice Department," he said. "The state of South 
Carolina doesn't have a record of prosecuting police officers."

Hoisington could not remember the last time a Lowcountry police officer or 
sheriff's deputy was charged with assault.

Parents of some of the children caught up in the drug sweep weren't so 
quick to brush aside the solicitor's decision.

"What did he do? Pass the buck," said Sharon Smalls, whose 14-year-old son, 
Nathaniel, was forced to the floor of the school.

"We all have morals and values," Smalls said. "Right is right, and wrong is 
wrong. This was wrong. They have broken all of these children's civil rights."

Tina Penn described the reaction of her 15-year-old son, Cedric, as he was 
forced to lie in the hallway: "He thought about running. He thought it was 
a terrorist attack at first. What if he had run? What would have happened?"

Both said the solicitor's decision left them with few answers and more 
questions. They said their sons are undergoing counseling at the Medical 
University of South Carolina as crime victims.

"Those guns should not have been drawn on these students," Penn said.

"This was not a crack house. It was a school," said Sharon Stafford, whose 
15-year-old son, Carl Alexander, was forced to the floor. "This should 
never happen to anybody's child, and somebody needs to be held accountable."

Tony Bartelme of The Post and Courier Staff contributed to this report.
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