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| Raid Settlement Gets Initial OK |
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Posted by CN Staff on April 05, 2006 at 15:09:51 PT By Tony Bartelme Source: Post and Courier 
Goose Creek, SC -- The morning of Nov. 5, 2003, Maurice Harris was a skinny ninth-grader at Stratford High School, standing in a stairwell, getting ready for classes. Suddenly, he heard a loud boom and saw police pour into a hallway, shouting and waving guns. One officer pointed a gun at his face, and the image of that gun barrel stayed with him long afterward, filling him with anger.Now 17 and a junior at Stratford, Harris found himself inside a federal courtroom Wednesday, listening to a judge give preliminary approval to settlement of a class-action lawsuit. Under the plan, Harris and as many as 140 other students in the hall that morning will get at least $6,000 to $11,000, and possibly more. The final amount depends on how many of the 140 students sign on. "I feel great about the outcome," Harris said afterward, standing next to his father. He said his anger has vanished, and that he plans to go to college someday. Dr. Chester Floyd, superintendent of the Berkeley County School District, also said he was pleased with the settlement deal. "It's time for this to go to bed and put it behind us." Tuesday's hearing isn't the last chapter in the legal drama stemming from the notorious Stratford drug sweep, but it may be close. U.S. District Judge Patrick Michael Duffy still must give final approval for the deal, which could happen as early as July. On Tuesday, he described the $1.6 million settlement agreement "to be in order and appropriate." Goose Greek police and Stratford school officials decided to raid a hallway after learning that students might be selling drugs in a particular corner. But the sweep turned up no drugs or weapons. No arrests were made. Soon after, angry parents began contacting area lawyers. Motley Rice LLC, known for its fights against the tobacco industry and on behalf of 9/11 victims, took on Harris and more than a dozen other clients. The American Civil Liberties Union also entered the fray, and soon Berkeley County school officials and Goose Creek police were being sued on several fronts over allegations they violated the students' constitutional rights. As images of the raid were broadcast and printed across the world, district officials and Goose Creek changed their policies for drug searches. George McCrackin, the high school's longtime principal, resigned and took an administrative position with the district. Meanwhile, some parents held rallies supporting McCrackin's get-tough approach to school discipline. In all, 53 students and their families would file three lawsuits. These claims eventually were combined into a single class-action lawsuit. Gregg Meyers, a lawyer for one group of students, said legal investigators studied photographic and other evidence and determined that roughly 140 students were present that morning in the hallway. Under the settlement plan, those students will be eligible to receive a share of $1,175,000 with another $25,000 set aside for those who sought medical treatment. Under a complicated formula, students who have already filed lawsuits or received medical or psychological treatment will get more money - at least about $11,000, lawyers for the students estimated. Other students in the hallway would get about $6,000, though both numbers could go up if fewer than 140 students join the suit. Next week, Berkeley County officials plan to mail 11-page packets explaining the settlement's details to about 2,700 students enrolled at Stratford the morning of the raid. Lawyers for both sides cautioned that only those who were in the hallway would be eligible to join the lawsuit. "And making a false claim is a federal crime," Meyers said, adding that investigators have a list of about 140 students, and that "any student who's not on the list will get extra scrutiny." Under the agreement, the students' lawyers will get $400,000. During a press conference after Tuesday's hearing, Fritz Jekel, a lawyer for Motley Rice, said his firm planned to donate any fees they receive to children's charities. "We invested more than 300 lawyer manhours, so that's a significant amount of money," he said. Richard Wern, another lawyer for the students, said he also planned to donate his fees to charity. Most of the $1.6 million settlement will be paid by insurance companies, though Goose Creek will pay $60,000 out of its own funds and Berkeley County School District will shell out $50,000. After the hearing, lawyers for both sides said they were pleased with the deal. "It's a great day in America for students all over the country," said Marlon Kimpson, another lawyer for Motley Rice working on the case. He said the agreement shows that "students don't leave their rights at the school door." Note: Up to 140 students at drug sweep could get $6,000 to $11,000 each. Source: Post and Courier, The (Charleston, SC) Related Articles & Web Site: School Raid Raises Questions About Drug War Stratford Raid Criticized, Praised Just Say No To Gun-Wielding Cops in School Home Comment Email Register Recent Comments Help |
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| Comment #11 posted by FoM on April 05, 2006 at 18:11:41 PT |
| Thanks for stopping in. I know you are busy and that will make time pass a little faster. I finally got a letter off the Jerry yesterday. [ Post Comment ] |
| Comment #10 posted by global_warming on April 05, 2006 at 17:50:49 PT |
| I can "spit" in the face Of my prosecutor and may all "donkeys" have a spit and a hollow to place that phlegm of disgrace in the 'face of those that stand before a court of man made laws that have been usurped by ignorance and greed Justice and Law Spring Eternally From the Fountain That moves the stars The Light that burns brightly To ever remind [ Post Comment ] |
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Comment #9 posted by runruffswife on April 05, 2006 at 17:47:33 PT:
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| Hi Everyone,
RunRuff wrote to me and said he has been receiving many letters from our friends here at C-News, he and I thank you. He also said he has received contributions to his commissary account. Thank you again, from both of us, very much. Those acts of kindness are making a really big difference in so many ways. We are grateful.
If anyone would like to reach me please email me as I am not regularly posting or reading C-News right now.
Blessings to You All. The Truth Shall Prevail.
Love Love Love,
Linda [ Post Comment ] |
| Comment #8 posted by global_warming on April 05, 2006 at 17:25:11 PT |
| prepare to be gutted, and your evisceration, is like any other, can you ride the spike, that big money brings? [ Post Comment ] |
| Comment #7 posted by charmed quark on April 05, 2006 at 17:08:16 PT |
| I guess he envies the USA's low crime rate and the finacial security of the middle class. Obviously our criminal policies have almost eliminated crime and drugs here. And nobody here needs to worry about medical care or how they will retire. Good for you, Canada. Seriously - how can the Canadians see anything in the USA as an improvement for what they have? How is ghe new Prime Minister getting support for thes policies? [ Post Comment ] |
| Comment #6 posted by global_warming on April 05, 2006 at 17:07:57 PT |
| Meant the 16th Amendment http://www.adena.com/adena/usa/hs/hs43.htm [ Post Comment ] |
| Comment #5 posted by global_warming on April 05, 2006 at 16:54:15 PT |
| To the Good People of Goose Creek, the payment was not enough, and the court of blind justice lifted her flap for a quick glance at the "money". As long as there is a "revenuer" and that forgotten 11th amendment that allowed the 'government to "tax" your income, that infamous day, when 'all Americans became slaves, these pork barreled hippocrits, will continue to grow, and wallow in the filth of disgrace to God and Country. [ Post Comment ] |
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Comment #4 posted by kaptinemo on April 05, 2006 at 16:04:14 PT:
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| Not by far. The fact is, the lesson has NOT been learned. Because if it had, you would have heard profuse apologizing from the police. Instead, you've heard...silence. The sullen silence of those who committed a grave wrong, and who are in denial of having done so. The police who committed this outrage should have been paraded in front of those they endangered with their reckless gunplay and publicly stated that were in the wrong and sorry. They haven't...and they won't. They will still insist that what they did was right, and first chance they get, they'll do it again. If there is a bright side that came out of this, it's that a few activists were born in that hallway that day, people who've learned first-hand what the War on Drugs really entails. They know that it is primarily aimed, literally with weapon muzzles, pointed at the heads of people of color. Some of them may shrink back and try to live quietly after this. But others...the anger will stay white-hot for a long tme. The police have made two errors. The first was the raid. Thesecond was making activists out of some of those kids. The latter mistake will cost them plenty when those kids become politically active...and seek to make the police pay twice by seeing their funds get cut. Thank you, Goose Creek goobers; our ranks have been added to. [ Post Comment ] |
| Comment #3 posted by OverwhelmSam on April 05, 2006 at 15:57:25 PT |
| Great! Precedent is set, let's start going after state agencies that treat people the same way as these thugs did to these students under color of law. [ Post Comment ] |
| Comment #2 posted by Sam Adams on April 05, 2006 at 15:35:11 PT |
| Most of the $1.6 million settlement will be paid by insurance companies, though Goose Creek will pay $60,000 out of its own funds and Berkeley County School District will shell out $50,000. That money right there could've paid for 1 full-time health teacher and 1 full-time sports & phys-ed teacher. Oh wait though, we have to give the police all our money, I forgot, this is America. [ Post Comment ] |
| Comment #1 posted by FoM on April 05, 2006 at 15:21:30 PT |
| Canada's New Leader Already Under Criticism By Doug Struck, Washington Post Foreign Service Wednesday, April 5, 2006; Page A20 TORONTO, April 4 -- Prime Minister Stephen Harper on Tuesday moved to end more of the liberal hallmarks that make Canada distinctive from the United States and to reverse the policies of 12 years of Liberal Party-led government. Harper's Conservative government outlined its legislative goals in a formal speech to Parliament, pledging to cut taxes, replace the federally backed day-care system with subsidies, curb what Harper calls lenient treatment of criminals and loosen the government's monopoly on health care.
On Monday, Harper announced that his government would back away from marijuana decriminalization, which was a regular platform of the Liberal government. He has frozen funding for some grass-roots environmental programs and pledged to scrap the country's gun registration program, another favorite Liberal program. Complete Article: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/04/04/AR2006040401912.html [ Post Comment ] |
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