RALEY, N.C. — North Carolina’s historically black university announced Monday that it has filed a complaint with the Justice Department seeking a review of the search for a bus carrying students during a traffic stop in South Carolina last month.
Shaw University President Paulette Dillard accused Spartanburg County law enforcement officials of racially profiling 18 students who were traveling from Raleigh, N.C., to a conference in Atlanta on October 5 by contract bus. Did.
Two South Carolina sheriffs denied racial profiling was involved in the stoppage, saying the bus was stopped because it overturned.
But at Monday’s press conference, Dillard said the question is how the alleged minor violations developed into drug investigations, whether all suspensions would prompt such investigations, and if not, He said what would trigger an investigation.
“The harmful effects of eroding individual rights in the name of law and order are real and they are rampant across the country,” she said. “Let’s be clear… Racism is about power and systems. Not having a knee on someone’s neck doesn’t mean it’s harmless.”
At a press conference last month, Spartanburg County Sheriff Chuck Wright called the racial profiling accusations “just false.” The unmarked bus was stopped by the police because the windows were discolored. The stop is part of Operation Rolling Thunder, a week-long anti-drug campaign in which legislators and officers from state agencies patrol the county’s highways.
“If anything we’ve ever done is racist, I want to know it, I want it right, I don’t want it to happen again.” It has absolutely nothing to do with.”
today’s top news
every day
Start your morning with the top stories of the day.
A dog on a leash “ran through the luggage” but nothing illegal was found, Wright said. You can see him looking for his bag. Drivers have been warned.
The university’s complaint stated that a lane violation was insufficient as a justification for a drug investigation and that the student’s privacy rights were violated. This was because the driver agreed to search the luggage compartment, but the passengers did not agree to search their individual luggage. It also claims that Operation Rolling Thunder disproportionately targeted black drivers.
Cherokee County Sheriff Steve Mueller said officers “did nothing wrong” and could not tell the races of the people inside the bus when they stopped it.
Wright and Mueller declined to comment on the complaint on Monday.
Democrats on the North Carolina legislative delegation asked the Justice Department to investigate the case last month.
The road closure is after that April incident in Georgia, This is where sheriff’s deputies stopped the Delaware State University women’s lacrosse team bus and searched for drugs. HBCU president Tony Allen said he was “outraged” and accused law enforcement officers of intimidation and humiliation.
Liberty County Sheriff William Bowman, who is black, said in May that the sheriff had found drugs on another bus the same morning. He was stopped because he was driving in the left lane. No one was arrested or charged, and drivers were warned.
