Pubdate: Fri, 30 Jan 2004
Source: Drug War Chronicle (US Web)
Contact:  http://www.stopthedrugwar.org/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/2514
Author: Phillip S. Smith, Editor
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/topics/Goose+Creek

GOOSE CREEK SCHOOL DISTRICT LAWYERS BLAME STUDENTS FOR RAID

Talk about adding insult to injury. It was enough that Stratford High
School Principal George McCrackin (since replaced) sicced the police
on his young charges. Or that the gung-ho cops of the suburban
Charleston Goose Creek Piece Department treated the local high school
as if it were a Baathist guerrilla hangout. Ordered to the hit the
floor by screaming police raiders waving pistols, handcuffed if they
complied too slowly, threatened by police drug dogs, the innocent
students were understandably traumatized by the events of November 4.
When school and police videotape of the raid aired, Goose Creek became
the focus of nationwide outrage.

Now, as the school district prepares to defend itself against a pair
of lawsuits brought by the students and their families with the help
of local civil rights attorneys and the American Civil Liberties Union
Drug Policy Litigation Project, it is arguing in court documents that
the students themselves -- none of whom were found to be in possession
of any drugs or other contraband -- were partly responsible.

"Any injuries or damages" suffered by the students in the raid was at
least partly the result of their "own acts of comparative negligence,
carelessness, recklessness...," the Berkeley County School District
claimed in a filing in a motion to dismiss a lawsuit filed December 18
by South Carolina attorney Ron Motley. The students are not entitled
to monetary damages because the raid was "justified at inception and
reasonable in scope," the district maintained.

The district also attempted to foist blame off on its co-conspirators,
the Goose Creek Police Department and the city of Goose Creek. Any
injuries suffered by the students, the district maintained, were the
result of negligence by "some other party or parties over whom the
defendants had no supervision or control." Also, the district should
not be held responsible because McCrackin did not plan, order, and
"execute the search."

"Does the district honestly think it's going to win points claiming
police didn't aim loaded guns at students' faces, but rather only
their torsos?" asked Ian Mance, a member of Students for Sensible Drug
Policy (http://www.ssdp.org) and Charleston native. "Those students
were one hair-trigger away from serious injury or even death. To blame
them for this is absolutely unconscionable."

SSDP has been organizing around the Goose Creek raid since it occurred
nearly three months ago. SSDP activist Dan Goldman traveled to the
area to meet with students, parents, and other activists in November,
and reported a warm reception -- from most quarters. Now ex-Principal
McCrackin was not happy to see him, Goldman reported.

"Our drug laws ought to protect youth," said new SSDP national
director Scarlett Swerdlow. "Unfortunately, as the continued
controversy in Goose Creek shows, all too often youth are the victims.
We were shocked to see that now they are trying to blame the students."

SSDP is not only shocked, it is organizing. "We've been talking to
some of the contacts Dan Goldman made when he was down there. South
Carolina holds its presidential primary next week, and we're trying to
mobilize our contacts to ask candidates about the raid and what they
would do as president to protect the privacy of students against
unreasonable raids like the one in Goose Creek," said Swerdlow. "In
New Hampshire, our communications director, Melissa Milam, was able to
ask General Clark about it, and he said he thought it was atrocious
that students were treated that way. We'd like to hear Clark and the
other candidates address this issue while they're in South Carolina,"
she said.

"We have also put out a press release criticizing the district for
blaming the students, and we have given our students on campuses
across the country some ideas of what they can do to draw attention to
this issue while attention is focused on South Carolina," she added.
Those tactics include writing letters to the editor, urging reporters
to use the raid as a local angle in campaign coverage, and asking
questions of candidates, she said.

Lawyers for the students had a field day with the district's
arguments. "It's an absolute outrage," attorney Ron Motley told the
Charleston Post & Courier, comparing the district to a drunk driver
running over someone and then blaming the pedestrian. "I can't wait to
tell a jury this," he said. As for the district's contention that it
wasn't liable for damages because the students were lawfully
restrained, Motley replied: "If you say pointing a Glock at someone's
head is a lawful restraint, then you must have grown up in Nazi Germany."

The school district "may say this is a technical defense, but for the
life of me, I don't know how it helps their arguments," added Jack
Cordray, another attorney for the students. "They try to teach
children to be accountable for their actions, but when they are called
to account, they deny responsibility and point to others, including
children."

The district's filing came as part of a motion to dismiss the case. No
word yet on when a ruling in the motion will come.
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