Posted on 07/03/2004 3:15:07 PM PDT by Stew Padasso
McMaster: S.C. school drug raid was legal
CHARLESTON, S.C. - No criminal charges will be filed against Goose Creek police officers who drew guns during a "grossly inappropriate" search for drugs at Stratford High School, South Carolina Attorney General Henry McMaster said Thursday.
"There is no evidence of any degree of criminal intent on behalf of the police officers or school personnel; thus a criminal prosecution would not be appropriate," McMaster said.
The Nov. 5 raid drew national attention after a videotape aired nationwide showed students being ordered to the floor and a drug dog prowling the hall. No drugs were found and no arrests were made in the sweep, which has spawned two civil lawsuits.
McMaster began investigating the sweep after a local prosecutor asked the Attorney General's office to intervene.
The state's chief prosecutor said school officials had "probable cause" to conduct a search for drugs but criticized police officers' decision to draw weapons during the search. McMaster said taking guns from holsters was a highly dangerous tactic that could have been deadly.
"Such raid tactics are well suited for a crack house but not a school house," he said.
This from the guy who thinks that students hawking a few pills in an upscale high school are going to get in a gun battle with undercover cops.
Missed this part?
" (Principal) McCrackin, who has two children at the school, said the problem mostly stems from students who transferred into the school this year from out of state.
Going to? I never said that. Might have? Sure. The Friday before the raid, one student threatened another with a weapon.
Oops. You probably missed that, also.
And how in the WORLD do you come to the conclusion that a handful of students breaking the law warrants the risk of the lives of, and the terrorization of, ALL of them?
Get a clue...those dogs could easily have decided to take a bite out of an innocent student, or some itchy-fingered cop might have ventilated one. As it was, they probably destroyed any trust the students might have had in their Constitutional liberties being protected.
You'd have probably still said it was "worth it".
Well, at least you didn't say they were pistol whipped.
The raid involved 107 students out of 2,760. As to terrorized, how many students in that school were terrorized by the drug dealing gang? Do you care?
That's the only good aspect of this outrage - that young people are disabused of the Party line - 'It's for the children'.
This constitutes a "drug gang" to you? Oh, and I DID miss the part before about the "weapon"...the student only CLAIMED to have one, none is specified to have been found, and its type was never specified. So much for your breast-beating on that one.
No proof of any kind for any of the rest of the principal's claims is given. Oh, and they spoke of "ten students who come in on early busses". If they were some kind of "drug gang", why were they not stopped and rousted in the bus, thus preserving the safety of the rest of the students? Oh, that's right...they needed to "teach that lesson" to the rest.
I note that no one has claimed that students were terrorizing each other. However, the police gave them a "lesson" in how the pros do it.
Your hysteria and irrationality is showing in neon, RP.
Only a namby-pampby, bleeding heart, let-the-kids-run-the-schools liberal could post those two sentences together with a straight face.
I meant to ask you. What percentage of the 90% are for the legalization of marijuana? 99%?
I suspect paulsen doesn't have any real nerve. Sad little fella.
Good to hear from you clamper.
--- When's the next meeting at Malloys?
Just last week the ninja warriors showed up at a friends house with a no knock warrant and busted her door down...her husband was at work and only she and 2 yr daughter at home...they were wearing black clothes and black masks and everything...
then discovered they were 4 houses wrong...apologized (without removing the mask) and said you can complain if you want but this is legal and it won't do you any good" and left.
She is scared to death now. too bad there is no video so her word against theirs.
I would advise everyone to get a wireless video cam setup just for the ninja warriors.
Not till next year Jan ...There are other clamper functions a little sooner that that though
Next we have RP's post #51, in which he states, "A student threatened another with a weapon".
He repeats this again in the post I'm pinging to now: "The Friday before the raid, one student threatened another with a weapon." Note again, no relationship to any "drug gangs" is specified, even in his own article.
So, RP, now that we've caught you in a lie, or at the very least a deliberate misstatement of the facts with a bit of spin on the backside, anything ELSE you should be retracting?
Ping to #74. RP has a bit of trouble with truth and facts, it would seem.
What video records? McCraken's "reasonable paranoia" was that becuse he couldn't see it being done on camera, this drug dealing must be happening out of camera range, so he called in the JBTs to do a body search of everyone.
Hey, if they aren't doing anything wrong they shouldn't complain about being rousted. < /copsucker logic>
Y'all are getting a little carried away with the personal attacks IMO.
You "caught" me in squat.
Based on published stories, I'm telling you the information that school officials and the police had prior to the raid. Their resultant actions were based on that information.
You have a problem with that, take it to your priest.
What are you talking about? He saw it being done on camera and so did the police. They just couldn't tell exactly who.
"so he called in the JBTs to do a body search of everyone."
That specific hallway at that specific time was selected on pupose. There were only 107 students involved (out of a total school population of 2,760 students) and no individuals were searched.
Everything you posted was a lie.
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