Goose Creek PD Cleared on all Charges

[FedDC]

Score one for the Good Guys Looks like those folks hoping to cash in on some tax money might just have to keep their day jobs after all...


Justice says guns-drawn raid didn't violate civil rights laws

Associated Press

CHARLESTON, S.C. - A guns-drawn raid at a Goose Creek high school last year did not violate civil rights laws and the case is closed, the U.S. Justice Department says.

"The evidence does not establish a prosecutable violation" of federal civil rights laws, a Justice Department official said in a letter to Goose Creek Police Chief Harvey Becker. The letter says "accordingly, we have closed our investigation."

The Justice Department decision "is a great relief" meaning there will be no criminal charges, Andy Savage, a lawyer for officers in the sweep, said.

Using a drug dog, police found no drugs or weapons in the Nov. 5 raid that frightened children, provoked marches and lawsuits and brought national media attention and the resignation of Stratford High School's longtime principal.

Fifteen officers entered Stratford's main hallway and ordered 130 students to the floor. They used plastic ties to handcuff 18 students and school officials opened and searched 17 book bags police dogs reacted to.

South Carolina Attorney General Henry McMaster, the state's chief prosecutor, criticized the tactics used as ill-suited for a school and created a "dangerous tinderbox situation."

"Such raid tactics are well suited for a crack house but not a school house," McMaster said in July as he decided not to pursue charges. Still, school officials had "probable cause" to conduct a search for drugs, he said.

"There was never any intent to do anything criminal," Lionel Lofton, another lawyer for the officers, said. "Our clients are glad to be getting back to what they do best: protect the people of Goose Creek."

Civil suits remain that allege students' constitutional rights were violated.

Settlement negotiations concerning those lawsuits recently broke down.

 

[El Tejon]

Amazing!

 

[FedDC]

Yep, I actually thought they would get suspended or maybe even fired with the PC climate nowdays, but I guess there is hope for our justice system after all. I may have to move up to Goose Creek myself

I have a feeling that this thread might just get a bit ugly...sorry mods

 

[Pilgrim]

The U.S. Dept. of Justice merely said they don't have any dog in this fight.

Pilgrim

 

[Fred Fuller]

feddc,

You should do that.

You'd fit right in.

lpl/fedftbragg

 

[Beren]

Fifteen officers entered Stratford's main hallway and ordered 130 students to the floor. They used plastic ties to handcuff 18 students and school officials opened and searched 17 book bags police dogs reacted to.

How is this a victory for the good guys? Do federal agents take pride in hearing of officers practicing oppressive tactics against innocent schoolchildren?

Oh, wait, I get it. Your point is that all the negative publicity this event generated makes it highly unlikely that other school districts would try something similarly ill-advised. In that sense you're right, it is a victory for the good guys.

 

[FedDC]

Yeah....that's exactly what I mean by victory

 

[cordex]

I remember watching video from that raid.

(Art's grandmaw told me "Cordex, if you can't say anything nice ...", so I listened to her.)

 

[thefitzvh]

if, by victory, you mean "buncha-arseholes-getting-away-with-immoral-thuggery" then yes, it's a victory

 

[Waitone]

I would love to have the time to do a mind map of the decision.

I know the law code has increasingly little to do with right and wrong, but it seems to me this incident is one great big step over the line of right and wrong even though it may be legal.

I just don't understand how nothing was wrong.

I guess the civil side will provide additional details we won't get from the criminal side.

 

[Third_Rail]

Good!

In my mind, they did nothing wrong. At ALL. In the highschool I used to go to, there is a SERIOUS drug problem, i.e. students selling at lunch, in between classes, etc. One "raid" (a dozen LEOs or so with K9 unit) is all it took, and now it doesn't happen much anymore, AFAIK.

 

[Sindawe]

And so grows the division between the populace and their 'protectors'



Black uniforms, weapons for thee but not me (as voiced by so many of your command structure), overbearing, superior attitudes. Yep, you guys are Peacekeepers, sure'nough.

 

[O.F.Fascist]

Hurray for Goose Step Creek PD.

They are lucky that that the students that students they harassed and pointed thier weapons at were of a darker skin color otherwise had they done that ???? at a school with students of a lighter shade they most certainly have been paying out tons of cash.

All this bull???? over the ????ing war on drugs, what a ????ing waste of resources.

 

[Warren]

Wheb the wife and I decided to homeschool the offspring this sort of thing was not part of our decision process. School shootings yes, but not this.

Raids like this are a great reason to keep your kids out of the public school system. There are far better reasons but this is a good one all by itself.

 

[Art Eatman]

"Using a drug dog, police found no drugs or weapons in the Nov. 5 raid..."

"Fifteen officers entered Stratford's main hallway and ordered 130 students to the floor. They used plastic ties to handcuff 18 students and school officials opened and searched 17 book bags police dogs reacted to."

Fantastic police work!

I didn't pay a lot of attention at the time, but this plus my recollection calls to mind the wonderful Mack Sennett comedies and the Keystone Cops.

130 students to the floor, but only 18 cuffed? IOW, they didn't have a clue as to who was a Bad Guy. The dogs reacted to 17 book bags that didn't have dope in them. Well, that'll do well for future credibility...

""There was never any intent to do anything criminal,""

I don't doubt that in the slightest. Little intent to do anything intelligent, either.

Yeah, the civil suits oughta be interesting...

Art

 

[Warbow]

I'm pro-LEO, but this is ridiculous.

FedDC, I do like seeing your counterpoints to a lot of the anti-LEO rhetoric which pops up on THR, but in this thread it's obvious you're just trying to bait people into it.

I can't help but lose some of my respect for you.

 

[Michigander]

School Vouchers.

Vote with the green stuff!

Put that school right out of business!

 

[Johnny Guest]

Oh, I wish I didn't feel I HAVE to participate in this train wreck of a thread . . .

FedDC, I have to ask: Why do you celebrate this Blow for the Greater Glory of Police Intimidation more than nine months after it was struck? Why not publicize it when it took place? And, why did you not give a link to the original story? I ran a Google on “Goose Creek High School†and found the story dated Nov 7, 2003, at http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2003/11/07/national/main582492.shtml

Is the link lacking because the included image from the school surveillance tape does not show police at their greatest moment of glory? Because there are no, and I mean ZERO, students swarming about, menacing the minions of law and order? Even such a small, poor quality, image makes it clear that at LEAST three uniformed cops are brandishing firearms. Two are pointing guns at students who are seated on the floor.

FedDC, I am a Peace Officer with over 35 years service, rapidly approaching retirement. I’ve served in several capacities, but most notably in patrol and investigations. I’ve been on a bunch of drug raids, from two-bit dealers to distribution centers run by biker gangs, to drug labs. I say this to establish some bona fides to make a couple of observations.

I really dislike the cop-bash threads here and on other boards. They do hurt my feelings, even though I understand that SOME officers really go over the top in displaying their authority. Yep, I understand the need to establish control when you enter an environment where all present are at least arguably suspects, actors in a criminal enterprise, or maybe just sympathizers. But, even with the worst hard cases around, once the situation is stabilized and handcuffs are applied, I CANNOT FATHOM the need to point pistols at subdued suspects seated peacefully on a floor. And far less so, when they are teenagers, at least some of whom are juveniles.

â€BUT JOHNNY! Don’t you understand that an officer can be KILLED DEAD by a 15-year-old?†Sure I do. But if said kiddo is seated and flex-cuffed, I’ll bet I can unholster my sidearm before he can do me or my comrades harm. And, better still, I could use a Taser or ASP or baton with somewhat less risk of an unintentional discharge. Those cops were NOT dealing with suicide bomber trainees at Baghdad Middle School. These kids were SUSPECTED of possessing or dealing small amounts of drugs - - Hardly capital crimes. Oh, I must also note that no drug cases were filed.

DC, I've NEVER had a problem with using necessary force to subdue a violent suspect - - Not even with the use of deadly force. But there is no sense whatever in risking the death of some school kid just to show what big ole tough guys we are. Such gratuitous tactics of intimidation simply provide additional (REASONABLE) justification for accusation of jack booted thug tactics.

I’ll throw out one more comment - - Any of us in a position of statutory authority - - Peace officer, deputy sheriff, city cop, state police, or some kind of federal agent - - must always remember: The Bill of Rights was codified to protect the public against People Like US! I enjoy being a quiet, peaceful member of the community. Personally, I’d just as soon remember the Bill of Rights on my own, and not need to be reminded of it in federal court - - or on the front page of the newspaper.

I doubt that my comments will greatly offend any true Officer of the Public Peace, dedicated to the protection and service of those by whom we are employed. I offer no apology to them. My apologies are reserved for our “clients†that have been wrongfully subjected to domestic terrorism in the name of “Law Enforcement.â€

In sorrow, not in anger - -
Johnny

 

[Pilgrim]

Johnny Guest

I’ll throw out one more comment - - Any of us in a position of statutory authority - - Peace officer, deputy sheriff, city cop, state police, or some kind of federal agent - - must always remember: The Bill of Rights was codified to protect the public against People Like US! I enjoy being a quiet, peaceful member of the community. Personally, I’d just as soon remember the Bill of Rights on my own, and not need to be reminded of it in federal court - - or on the front page of the newspaper.

I love it.

Pilgrim

 

[Art Eatman]

Anybody hasn't figured it out, Johnny Guest is a true gentleman and is an honor to his profession...

I've gotten along just real friendly with a heckuva lot of LEOs, over the last fifty or so years. Texas Rangers, deputies, city PD guys...Seen a lot of good peace officers, and a very few bad apples. Very few. The vast majority were folks I could seriously respect.

So I dunno. Yeah, times change--and not always for the better.

I sometimes think folks just ain't as growed up as they used to be...

Art

 

[Michigander]

Johnny Guest,

You sir have my utmost respect and my undying gratitude. Sincerely.

I fear that your attitude in respect to LE and LEO's roles in LE are "old school" and fading fast. I hope not.

And I hope and trust that you taught some younger officers and instilled in them the correct attitude.

Thank you again Johnny.

 

[Warbow]

Thank you, Johnny Guest.

You're the type of LEO that any community would be proud to have.

 

[madcowburger]

Of course. This was no surprise. It almost always goes this way now. Police are almost *never* held accountable for anything anymore.

I personally thought the guns-drawn raid/attack on the school children by the Goose Step PD was one of the most shocking, ugly, and un-freaking-American things I'd ever seen in my 47 years of life.

But I am not at all shocked that the police are getting away with it.

They got away with the profit-motivated assassination of Donald Scott.

They got away with Ruby Ridge.

They got away with the Waco Massacre.

They got away with shooting Amadou Diallo 41 times for pulling a wallet on them. Every day they get away with wantonly gunning down people for things like having a cell phone.

They got away with shooting a woman in a drugstore drive-through lane in the back of the head because she was "trying to run them down." Every time they shoot someone trying to get away from them in a car they claim the driver was "trying to run them down." And the courts always accept that as the gospel truth.

They almost always get away with everything, every outrage, every atrocity, every rights violation. The courts almost always rule in their favor and against the rights and freedoms of all Americans.

About the only thing they *didn't* get away with in the last 15 years or so was the Rodney King beating.

And if Rodney King had been white they would have gotten away with that too. Violating the rights of *white* Americans is a big freebie for the police, federal. state, and local. Whites have no civil rights the government is bound to respect.

The only reason the Goose Step raid was even controversial at all was because most of the school kids were black. If they'd all been white there'd have never been a peep uttered about it.

I wish all of them -- the whole occupying army -- would resign. It would make the streets a lot safer. People could actually come and go freely again, and actually defend themselves against criminals again. This would be free country again.

MCB

 

[Sindawe]

madcowburger, Waco and Ruby Ridge were Federal Agency shows, not local cop events.

 

[madcowburger]

Police are police. They're all armed agents of one or another level of government, federal, state, or local. They don't work for the American people. They work for the government. *We* are *not* the government.

It used to be sort of true that the feds were the worst by far. But the evil has trickled down to the local level.

If the Goose Step PD's dogs had mutilated some of the school kids, torn off their faces or genitals, or if they'd actually opened fire and shot dozens of those kids dead, even completely wiped them all out, and then set the building on fire with their beloved incendiary gas grenades, they'd have gotten away with that too.

The courts and packed/intimidated juries would find it all perfectly reasonable, because someone "made a sudden move" or because they (the cops) "felt threatened" when somebody didn't get face down on the ground quite fast enough. Otherwise, reefer madness or something might take over.

MCB