Student sues school over strip search in front of classmates

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Grand Master

Hum

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ATLANTA ? A Georgia middle school student claimed in a lawsuit Wednesday he was humiliated and traumatized when he was brought to a vice principal's office and forced to strip in front of classmates who said he had marijuana.

The student, then in the seventh-grade, said he still suffers from emotional distress because his classmates taunted him by calling him Superman, the underwear he was wearing when he was strip-searched. The student is suing the Clayton County school district for unspecified punitive and compensatory damages.

The student, identified in court documents as D.H., said officials at Eddie White Academy initially strip-searched three other students on Feb. 8, 2011, after suspecting they had marijuana. One of them accused D.H. of having drugs, and he was brought to then-vice principal Tyrus McDowell's office.

While the three classmates watched, D.H.'s pockets and book bag were searched but didn't find anything, the lawsuit said. One of the students told school officials he had lied about D.H. having drugs, but administrators continued the search as D.H. begged to be taken to the bathroom for more privacy, according to the lawsuit.

D.H. was ordered to strip and again, no drugs were found.

"The strip searches were done intentionally, willfully, wantonly, maliciously, recklessly, sadistically, deliberately, with callous indifference to their consequences," according to the lawsuit, which also names as defendants the county's sheriff's department and Ricky Redding, the school's resource officer.

The student's attorney, Gerry Weber, said a 2009 U.S. Supreme Court ruling found school officials can't perform even a partial strip search of a student, even if they have probable cause.

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Grand Master

FMH

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He should make them pay, at least search him in a closed area. Not next to he's friends :o .

No no, not friends. Enemies!

A Georgia middle school student claimed in a lawsuit Wednesday he was humiliated

and traumatized when he was brought to a vice principal's office and forced to strip in front

of classmates who said he had marijuana.

- - - - -

While the three classmates watched, D.H.'s pockets and book bag were searched but didn't

find anything, the lawsuit said. One of the students told school officials he had lied about D.H.

having drugs, but administrators continued the search as D.H. begged to be taken to the

bathroom for more privacy, according to the lawsuit.

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Grand Master

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No no, not friends. Enemies!

Nah, you know how teenagers are. At that age (especially if I were a guy) I'd probably have lied too just to get a friend felt up for the lulz, but even they couldn't have anticipated how far the administrators were going to take it. I'm sure it hit the "OK, this isn't funny anymore" point early on and that's why they started backtracking and saying they were only kidding, but the officials didn't stop. I don't blame the kids at all really--this is fully on the school. Even if he DID have drugs, this wouldn't have been right. (I wouldn't feel sorry for him if he had indeed brought drugs, but this still wouldn't have been appropriate.)

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ILikeTobacco

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Oh, my goodness. The kid didn't even have anything. In this case I say he's absolutely right to sue them.

Even if he did have it, it should still sue. Being forced to undress in front of other people should be illegal(Other than the person doing the strip search obviously). Due to on idiots actions, this kid is being subjected to bullying.

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Grand Master

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Even if he did have it, it should still sue. Being forced to undress in front of other people should be illegal(Other than the person doing the strip search obviously). Due to on idiots actions, this kid is being subjected to bullying.

I tentatively agree.. the only reservation I have is, once you break the rules in so blatant and 'serious' a manner, you kind of give up some of the rights (and certainly the sympathy). But yeah, I think even if he had drugs, he probably would have a chance of winning this lawsuit.

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FMH

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Nah, you know how teenagers are. At that age (especially if I were a guy) I'd probably have lied too just to get a friend felt up for the lulz, but even they couldn't have anticipated how far the administrators were going to take it. I'm sure it hit the "OK, this isn't funny anymore" point early on and that's why they started backtracking and saying they were only kidding, but the officials didn't stop. I don't blame the kids at all really--this is fully on the school. Even if he DID have drugs, this wouldn't have been right. (I wouldn't feel sorry for him if he had indeed brought drugs, but this still wouldn't have been appropriate.)

While I agree that the school administration is at fault, I strongly disagree for not blaming the kids who brought this upon him.

"They're just kids" argument doesn't work here, because this is a very serious crime they are blaming him for.

They accused him of a federal offence!! :pinch:

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Anibal P

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I tentatively agree.. the only reservation I have is, once you break the rules in so blatant and 'serious' a manner, you kind of give up some of the rights (and certainly the sympathy). But yeah, I think even if he had drugs, he probably would have a chance of winning this lawsuit.

Even If he had drugs, the search was still illegal, only the Police have the authority to search a suspect, not school officials

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M_Lyons10

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I hope he sues the school out of business -- this is outrageous.

Agreed. I am so sick and tired of these schools, faculty, and teachers acting like they can do whatever they want. It is outrageous. I hope he wins a ton of money.

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Grand Master

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While I agree that the school administration is at fault, I strongly disagree for not blaming the kids who brought this upon him.

"They're just kids" argument doesn't work here, because this is a very serious crime they are blaming him for.

They accused him of a federal offence!! :pinch:

But come on, surely you remember how teenage boys are. I'm not sure of your age, but honestly, they weren't thinking of how serious the accusation was, they were just being guys. I suspect even the victim doesn't blame them too much, at least not once he thinks about it with a clear head. The bottom line is that the school officials handled it all wrong.

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Richteralan

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But come on, surely you remember how teenage boys are. I'm not sure of your age, but honestly, they weren't thinking of how serious the accusation was, they were just being guys. I suspect even the victim doesn't blame them too much, at least not once he thinks about it with a clear head. The bottom line is that the school officials handled it all wrong.

Basically you are saying "They're just kids".

This is how the education system went wrong. The lying kids don't get any consequences for his action, and the admin will get blamed either way.

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FMH

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The bottom line is that the school officials handled it all wrong.

I can't argue with that. That's true.

But I don't remember myself, or anyone else at my school, falsely accusing someone of a real crime. :)

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DocM

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Agreed. I am so sick and tired of these schools, faculty, and teachers acting like they can do whatever they want. It is outrageous. I hope he wins a ton of money.

This!!

Also; the proper procedure would be to call his parents first then the cops, letting the cops do the search without the other students present.

This kid's gonna clean up, bigtime.

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