17 STUDENTS FILE SUIT IN POLICE RAID

Defendants Include School District, City

CHARLESTON - Seventeen Stratford High School students have filed a lawsuit
against the city of Goose Creek and the Berkeley County School District,
saying police and school officials terrorized them in a drug raid last month.

The defendants named in the lawsuit, filed Friday in U.S. District Court in
Charleston, include Stratford High School Principal George McCrackin;
Berkeley County school Superintendent Chester Floyd; Goose Creek Police
Chief Harvey Becker; and Goose Creek police Lt. Dave Aarons.

The suit also names the city of Goose Creek, its Police Department and the
Berkeley County School District as defendants.

The lawsuit stems from a Nov. 5 raid in which police swept through
Stratford High School looking for drugs, pointing guns at students and
ordering them to the floor.

Solicitor Ralph Hoisington asked state Attorney General Henry McMaster on
Thursday to investigate whether any laws were broken in the raid.

Hoisington also asked the State Law Enforcement Division to share its
investigation with the U.S. Attorney's Office and FBI to determine whether
federal criminal violations occurred.

McCrackin said Friday he had not received any information about the
lawsuit. "Even if I had, I can't comment," he said.

Floyd said he heard about the lawsuit Friday afternoon and described the
matter as "very unfortunate."

"We've had local, state, national and international news coverage on this,"
Floyd said. "It's a month old. I'm trying to get everything back to normal.
I'm sorry it all happened. I'm sorry it's a lawsuit."

Stratford officials have said they had reason to think drugs were being
sold in the hallway before classes started, but no drugs were found in the
raid. Some Stratford students were arrested on drug-related charges earlier
this year.

In the lawsuit, the students asked for an unspecified amount of money for
damages and an injunction against another such raid.

The suit also charges the students' constitutional rights had been violated
and levels charges of assault, battery and false arrest.

Also, students involved in the lawsuit provided details of what happened to
them when police conducted the raid.