Pubdate: Sat, 08 Nov 2003
Source: Post and Courier, The (Charleston, SC)
Copyright: 2003 Evening Post Publishing Co.
Contact:  http://www.charleston.net/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/567
Author: Seanna Adcox, Of The Post and Courier Staff
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/topics/Goose+Creek ( Goose Creek )

VIDEO SHOWS DRAWN GUNS AND COWERING STUDENTS

The surveillance video of the Stratford High School drug raid broadcast on 
televisions across the country shows a small clip of the 30-minute sweep 
from one camera among the more than 70 at the school.

One angle shows officers coming down the main hallway at 6:45 a.m., several 
with guns aimed downward. Most of the students are standing along the 
sides. Several cower after spotting the officers, hiding behind each other.

Within 30 seconds, all the students are sitting or lying against the wall 
on one side or against the trophy case on the other, with their backpacks 
in the center. The camera angle does not show all 107 students who happened 
to be in the hall.

Other officers come in from the bottom of the screen. The video shows an 
officer pick out a sitting student, throw him to the side and pin him down. 
He is one of the students searched later.

At one point, the officers sweep their guns at a downward angle, near 
students on the floor.

With a gun in his right hand aiming out, one officer uses his left to 
direct students to stay down. When he bends down toward a group of 
students, the muzzle of the gun momentarily points down with him.

The officers then replace their guns in their holsters. Students turn and 
face the wall or trophy case, on their knees, and fold their hands behind 
their heads.

A police dog comes into the screen about 6:50 a.m. and walks up and down 
the hall sniffing backpacks, going in and out of the scene. Ten minutes 
later, students turn back around and sit.

By 7:10 a.m., students begin getting up one-by-one, starting at the end of 
the hallway. Officers talk to each student as he or she stands up, then 
walks away.

Five minutes later, the hall is flooded with students heading to class.