CHARLESTON — Prosecutor Ralph Hoisington plans to announce
today whether charges will be filed against police in a high school
drug search where officers drew guns as students were ordered to sit
in the hallway.
The Nov. 5 search at Stratford High School in Goose Creek
attracted national media attention and is the subject of a 200-page
report by the State Law Enforcement Division.
Hoisington, the prosecutor for Charleston and Berkeley counties,
received that report last week and has scheduled a news conference
today at Goose Creek City Hall to announce his findings.
Hoisington has said if the police actions were not justified,
what officers did could be considered assault and battery. He said
there is a fine line between what is justified and what might be
considered too much force.
Videotape from surveillance cameras showed students sitting on
the floor while officers with guns drawn looked for drugs. Police
checked 107 students and briefly restrained about a dozen.
Fourteen officers and a drug dog took part in the sweep, which
has left the bedroom community of 29,000 residents 20 miles
northwest of Charleston divided over the police action.
Some students and parents praised school officials for taking a
tough stand on drugs. Others are angry about the force police
used.
Hoisington later asked SLED to investigate possible police
misconduct in the sweep during which some students were
handcuffed.
School officials asked police in after receiving reports of
marijuana sales on the campus. Police said the dog sniffed drug
residue on 12 book bags but found no illegal narcotics. No one was
arrested.
The prosecutor announces his decision the same day the Rev. Jesse
Jackson plans to visit neighboring North Charleston for what he said
is a rally against police violence.
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.
SLED is investigating the incident and North Charleston Mayor
Keith Summey asked the U.S. Justice Department for a separate
investigation.