Shaw University files federal complaint after student bus stopped and searched
Shaw University has filed a federal complaint with the U.S. Department of Justice over a traffic stop of a bus carrying students to an academic conference in October, officials announced Monday.
President Paulette Dillard said again that students from the historically Black university in Raleigh had their civil rights violated during the traffic stop in South Carolina two months ago.
The bus carrying 18 students and two administrators was pulled over in Spartanburg County, S.C. for a minor traffic violation on Oct. 5.
“Let’s be clear,” Dillard said at a news conference Monday. “Racism is about power and systems, and just because there isn’t a knee on someone’s neck doesn’t mean that no harm is being done.”
The university has submitted complaints to the U.S. Department of Justice stating, among other things, that an alleged, minor traffic-lane violation was insufficient reason to justify a search for drugs.
The complaint, filed for the university by attorney Dan Blue III, asks for a federal review of the traffic stop. It further alleges that students right to privacy was violated and that “Operation Rolling Thunder,” the larger operation the traffic stop was part of, disproportionately stopped Black drivers.
“It begs the question whether every vehicle stopped for a lane violation is also searched for drugs by dogs,” Dillard said. “Who gets searched and why?”
Body camera footage released by the sheriff’s office showed Sgt. Cody Painter asking the bus driver and another unidentified person questions about their trip. He then proceeded to search the luggage on the bus. No drugs or illegal items were found, although the drug-sniffing dog alerted on a bag that was found to contain donuts.
Dillard was outraged over the incident calling it racial profiling.
‘Nothing to do with racism’
On Oct. 31, Sheriff of Spartanburg County, Chuck Wright, held a press conference refuting Dillard’s claims saying the stop and search had “nothing to do with racism.”
“I don’t have a problem when someone points out a problem with our department. I’m very, very, very disappointed that a lady of her education level would make such an uneducated statement to the press and try to get some people stirred up,” Wright said.
Mark Schultz contributed to this report.
This is a developing story and will be updated. Please return for a fuller report.
