STRATFORD STUDENTS FILE SUIT

Constitutional Rights At Issue In Action Brought By High-Profile Trial
Lawyers

In a federal class action lawsuit filed Friday, 18 Stratford High
School students allege that a Goose Creek police officer pointed a gun
at the back of a student's head, that officers waved guns in students'
faces and that they used other illegal search and seizure tactics in
last month's drug sweep at the school.

Filed in U.S. District Court and coordinated by a group of prominent
local trial lawyers, the lawsuit is the first civil action to emerge
from the controversial drug search. It frames the debate as a struggle
over students' constitutional rights.

The 23-page complaint begins with the Fourth Amendment: "The right of the
people to be secure in their persons ... papers and effects, against
unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated."

It then outlines how officers burst into the school's hallway Nov. 5
with their guns drawn. It alleges that an officer pointed his gun at
the back of one student's head and that, because of the commotion,
students feared someone had been shot. Students also allege they were
frightened by the department's drug-sniffing dog, which barked
excitedly and appeared unruly. No drugs were found during the sweep.

"This is an open-and-shut case of excessive police force on innocent
children," said Ron Motley, lead attorney for the students and their
parents. "This made us a laughing stock all over the United States,
and it can't be tolerated."

Defendants in the lawsuit include Stratford Principal George C.
McCrackin, Berkeley County School District officials, the city of
Goose Creek and members of the Goose Creek Police Department.

The complaint seeks an injunction preventing police and school leaders
from doing similar kinds of searches in the future and an unspecified
amount of monetary damages.

McCrackin referred questions to Berkeley County school officials, who
did not return phone calls. Goose Creek officials also declined to
discuss the lawsuit.

The lawsuit is by no means the first to discuss police searches in
schools.

An often-cited U.S. Supreme Court decision involving a New Jersey case
found that school officials can search a student if they have a
"reasonable suspicion" that wrongdoing has occurred. The Stratford
lawsuit alleges that Goose Creek police and school officials didn't
have "reasonable suspicion" to search the more than 100 students in
the hall that morning.

The lawsuit also alleges that by restraining students and forcing them
to the floor, police assaulted and falsely arrested them.

Though Goose Creek officials aren't talking about the sweep now,
officers defended their tactics immediately after the raid, saying
they had information that students were dealing drugs in the hallway.
A police report said that two days before the raid, a student
confessed to school administrators that he had bought marijuana in the
hallway Oct. 31.

Based on this and other information, school officials made plans to
sweep through the hallway the morning of Nov. 5.

In the lawsuit, several students describe how they experienced the
raid:

- -- Maurice Harris, 14, a ninth-grader, said he was standing in the
hallway near a stairwell when he heard a loud boom. "He thought
someone had been shot when he saw from all directions swarming
uniformed police officers, some with handguns drawn," the lawsuit
says. "One police officer ran up to him aggressively and pointed his
handgun at Maurice, and Maurice can still see the end of the barrel
looking at him in the face."

- -- Justin Lewis, 16, a senior, said he was sitting at a table in the
cafeteria when school officials and police bound his hands behind his
back and "paraded them past the other students in the cafeteria to the
hallway."

- -- DeJohn McKelvey, 16, a junior, said he was sitting next to the
stairwell and reviewing notes for class when he heard a loud boom. He
said an officer pointed a gun in his face and pushed him from behind
to the ground.

- -- Danielle Fludd, 15, a sophomore, said her mother dropped her off at
school at about 7 a.m., and when she walked into the hallway where the
sweep was taking place, an officer pointed a gun at her and ordered
her to the floor.

- -- Michael Boyd, 15, a freshman, said that after hearing a loud boom,
officers came "from all different directions" and ordered him to the
floor. A police officer with a large Czechoslovakian shepherd passed a
few feet away. "Michael was scared of the dog that appeared to be
unresponsive to commands," the lawsuit says.

During Friday's news conference, Ronald Lewis said his daughter has
had nightmares since the raid. He said his niece was standing next to
his daughter that morning, and that an officer pointed a gun at her.

"Now she's having nightmares that the gun went off and killed her
cousin," he said.

The lawsuit pits a group of legal heavy hitters against Goose Creek
police and school officials.

Motley is known for his billion-dollar battles with the tobacco and
asbestos industries and the lawsuit on behalf of the victims of 9-11.

His firm will coordinate the lawsuit with assistance from six
attorneys -- Dwayne Green, Jack Cordray, Juan Tolley, Michael
Stricker, Thad Doughty and Chris McCool -- from other firms.