Pubdate: Thu, 02 May 2002 Source: Charleston Gazette (WV) Copyright: 2002 Charleston Gazette Contact: http://www.wvgazette.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/77 Author: Tom Searls WVSC STUDENTS ACCUSE POLICE OF RACIAL PROFILING 'Suspicious Vial' Was a Toiletry Item Three black West Virginia State College students believe Charleston police used racial profiling and an out-of-state license tag as reasons to pull them over and harass them Tuesday night. Police, however, said they do not permit racial profiling and the officers were just doing their jobs because the men had raised their suspicions. No citations were issued to the driver, Courtney Shannon, 22, of Chicago. Police said he committed traffic violations, which led to the initial pullover on Washington Street near Interstate 64, just past the Greyhound bus station. The students were returning from one of the last seminars for their "Leadership to Government Program," which accepts only the top 5 percent of the 6,000 students at the college, said Don Gresby, their professor and coordinator of judicial affairs/special programs at the college. Male members of the class had been at an East End barbershop, getting haircuts and facials and learning how to appear properly in public, Gresby said. He believes they also got a stern lesson about being young black men in America. "What angers me is these young men will remember this the rest of their lives," the 48-year-old professor said. Nine police officers - in uniform and street garb - surrounded the car with guns drawn about 9:30 p.m. and ordered Shannon to toss his keys out the window. The three were then ordered from the car one at a time, handcuffed and forced to get on their knees. They were searched. The car was searched. And, all three said at least one officer kept insisting a person walked up to the Oldsmobile just before the men pulled out and they took a plastic bag with something white in it from him. "I said nobody walked up to my car," Shannon said. But that response did not seem to soothe the cops, he said: "Then they got mad." All three men said one officer kept insisting they were calling him a liar. "He said, 'Come on, I saw the bag.' I said, 'You couldn't have seen anything,'" Shannon said. The three had purchased toiletry items before they left the barber shop in the 1500 block of Washington Street East. Drug unit officers doing surveillance in a nearby Camry watched them get in their car. "They saw the guy leave the car right after or before they saw a vial held up," said Charleston Police Major Jerry Pauley. Officers believed the vial, which turned out to be the just-purchased toiletry items, contained crack cocaine, he said. A patrol car followed the Oldsmobile and Pauley said the men violated several traffic laws. Shannon was told he did not use his turn signal while changing to the left lane. "They had probable cause to stop the car and since they thought there was drugs involved, they were being careful," Pauley said. Careful could have been deadly, said Gresby. "What would have happened if one of these young men had gone into a sneezing fit or hyperventilated?" he said. "I would have been calling parents." Passenger Drew Williams, an Atlanta resident who is enrolled in ROTC and is on the dean's list at State, said with blinding lights on him "all I could see was guns." "I was nervous because they had guns on me," Shannon said. "It was just terrible," said passenger Jason Price, 22, of Kimball. "I was just nervous. I'm just there and scared." All three said they had never before been handcuffed or searched, had guns pointed at them or been forced to kneel on their knees on pavement. "I've been having flashbacks a lot and I woke up this morning with it," said Williams. "It just keeps replaying [in my mind]." Pauley said someone from the college had called Mayor Jay Goldman's office to complain about the incident Wednesday. If the men believe they were mistreated, he said, they should file an official complaint, which automatically launches an internal probe. Gresby said administrators at the college, which was founded as a land-grant institution for black students, are upset and more complaints will follow. "This is going back to Jim Crowism," he said. - --- MAP posted-by: Alex