DECISION ON SCHOOL RAID TODAY

Solicitor To Say Whether Police Will Face Charges

Solicitor Ralph Hoisington will announce today whether charges will be filed
against police who participated in a drug raid last month at Stratford High
School, where several officers stormed in with guns drawn.

Hoisington will announce his decision in a 2 p.m. joint news
conference with Goose Creek Mayor Michael Heitzler at City Hall.

The solicitor for Charleston and Berkeley counties declined Wednesday
to comment on his findings or the 200-page report he received last
week from the State Law Enforcement Division. Heitzler, through his
secretary, also declined to speak until the news conference.

"If there was no legal justification for the police action, then what
was done could be considered an assault and battery," Hoisington said
last week.

After receiving a tip concerning marijuana sales, about 15 officers
went into Berkeley County's largest high school at 6:45 a.m. Nov. 5,
yelling, "Get down, get down!" and "Put your hands on your head!"
Police restrained about a dozen of the 107 students in the hallway.
Students then faced the walls, on their knees, as a barking police dog
sniffed their backpacks.

The dog sniffed drug residue on 12 backpacks but officers found no
drugs and made no arrests.

The search lasted about 30 minutes. Officers took the names of all
students detained before allowing them to walk away, according to a
police report.

Video of the drug raid drew national criticism and media attention.
Some students and parents praised school officials for taking a tough
stand on drugs. Others protested the force police used and called for
the dismissal of Principal George McCrackin. Black parents accused
police participating in the raid of targeting black students.

Two days after the raid, Hoisington asked SLED to prepare a report,
which does not offer a conclusion. He said last week he will share it
with the U.S. Justice Department. Goose Creek Police Lt. Dave Aarons
has said that several of the 14 officers went in with guns drawn for
safety reasons because weapons often accompany drugs and money.

McCrackin went to Aarons Nov. 3 with suspicions of drug sales,
supported by students and surveillance cameras in the school. After
arriving on campus two days later, officers removed trash cans and
other possible hiding spots for drugs in the hall, shut off the water
source in student bathrooms and took their positions.

Officers went in after McCrackin said surveillance showed students
going to their normal spots, according to the police report.

SLED spokeswoman Kathryn Richardson said Wednesday the agency will not
make its report public because the investigation is "still considered
an open case."

Hoisington will announce his decision the same day the Rev. Jesse
Jackson plans to visit neighboring North Charleston. Jackson will
attend a 6:30 p.m. civil rights rally against "overreaction and
excessive use of force" by Goose Creek and North Charleston police,
according to his itinerary. He is not scheduled to attend the news
conference.

The rally is in response to the drug sweep, as well as last month's
fatal shooting in North Charleston of a mentally ill man. Police said
they had to fire to subdue the man, who stabbed an officer with a
knife. The officer was wearing a protective vest and was not injured.