Step up folks we need more of these lawsuits..
Attorneys for The Rutherford
Institute have filed a civil rights lawsuit on behalf of two former high
school lacrosse players who were suspended for possessing “deadly
weapons,” namely a penknife and a butane lighter, which were found in
their lacrosse bags. Although it was understood that the tools were used
by the boys to maintain their lacrosse equipment, the police were
called and one player was actually handcuffed, fingerprinted and charged
with possession of a deadly weapon. In a complaint filed in the U.S.
District Court for Maryland, Institute attorneys allege that the Board
of Education of Talbot County and several school officials violated
Graham Dennis and Casey Edsall’s constitutional right to due process by
suspending them from Easton High School on the basis that the tools
constituted “dangerous weapons,” as well as their Fourth Amendment right
to be free from unreasonable searches and seizures.
“By majoring in minors, as it were,
treating all students as suspects and harshly punishing kids for
innocent mistakes, the schools are setting themselves and their students
up for failure—not only by focusing on the wrong individuals and
allowing true threats to go undetected but also by treating young people
as if they have no rights, thereby laying the groundwork for future
generations that are altogether ignorant of their rights as citizens and
unprepared to defend them,” said John W. Whitehead, president of The
Rutherford Institute and author of A Government of Wolves: The Emerging American Police State,
which examines the impact of school zero tolerance policies in shaping
young people’s ideas about personal freedom. “Thus far, the courts have
done little to improve conditions for young people who are the
unfortunate casualties in the schools’ so-called quest for ‘student
safety.’ It is our hope that this case will be the tipping point to
reverse that trend.”
Based on a so-called “tip” that
there may have been alcohol on the Easton High School lacrosse team’s
bus, school officials boarded the bus on April 13, 2011 and searched the
players’ bags. Graham Dennis told one official that he had a
pocketknife, which had a blade measuring 2.5 inches, in his bag and
complied with a request to retrieve the pocketknife. Dennis’s bag also
contained other tools he used to repair and maintain his lacrosse
equipment. During the search, officials discovered a lighter in Casey
Edsall’s bag. Although the items were used by the boys to maintain their
lacrosse equipment, the police were called. Dennis was arrested and
charged as a juvenile in possession of a deadly weapon. The School Board
upheld suspensions imposed by school officials: Edsall for one day and
Dennis for ten days.
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