Guest guest Posted December 23, 2003 Report Share Posted December 23, 2003 SOUTH CAROLINA STUDENTS TERRORIZED BY POLICE DRUG RAID Students as young as 14 were terrorized by police with guns and drug-sniffing dogs in an early-morning SWAT raid at Stratford High School in Goose Creek, South Carolina. The raid violated the students=92 rights, the ACLU has charged in a lawsuit filed on behalf of 20 families. The ACLU complaint is online at: http://www.aclu.org/DrugPolicy/DrugPolicy.cfm?ID=3D14578 & c=3D19 & MX=3D1093= & H=3D0 The SWAT team-style raid on school children sparked national outrage after a school videotape of the November 5 incident was broadcast on television. A police video of the raid has now surfaced that shows even more disturbing detail of police handcuffing students and holding guns to their heads while a large drug dog sniffed and tore at the students=92 book bags. No drugs or weapons were found during the sweep and no charges were filed. A copy of the school surveillance videotape, narrated by Goose Creek Principal McCrackin, is online at (Real Player is required): http://stream.realimpact.net/rihurl.ram?file=3Drealimpact/cms/aclu/200312= 0 5_ACLU_DrugBust.rm The ACLU=92s lawsuit charges school and police officials violated the students=92 right to be free from unlawful search and seizure and use of excessive force. The lawsuit seeks a court order declaring the raids unconstitutional and blocking officials from carrying out future raids, as well as damages on behalf of the students who were terrorized. The ACLU said such unconstitutional tactics are on the rise as schools increasingly apply the =93zero tolerance=94 approach to perceived drug problems in schools. But these escalating measures have no justification in reality since long-term studies show that student drug use has declined in the last 10 years. Zero tolerance policies also have a disproportionate affect on minority students, who are frequently far more harshly disciplined than their white counterparts. A New York Times story about the raid noted that while black students make up less than a quarter of the 2,700 students at Stratford High School, two-thirds of the 107 students caught up in the sweep were black.=20 As 16-year-old Ody, one of the students caught up in the sweep, put it: =93I felt like I had less rights than other people that day. " Read more and find the ACLU=92s complaint in this case at: http://www.aclu.org/DrugPolicy/DrugPolicy.cfm?ID=3D14576 & c=3D19 & MX=3D1093= & H=3D0=20 Watch a copy of the school surveillance videotape (Real Player is required): http://stream.realimpact.net/rihurl.ram?file=3Drealimpact/cms/aclu/200312= 0 5_ACLU_DrugBust.rm Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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