D.H. ex rel. Dawson v. Clayton Cnty. Sch. Dist.
| Decision Date | 30 September 2014 |
| Docket Number | Civil Action No. 1:12–CV–00478–AT. |
| Citation | 52 F.Supp.3d 1261 |
| Parties | D.H., a minor by his mother Angela DAWSON, Plaintiff, v. CLAYTON COUNTY SCHOOL DISTRICT, Former Eddie White Academy Assistant Principal Tyrus McDowell, individually, Defendants. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — Northern District of Georgia |
Adam B. Wolf, Tracey B. Cowan, Wolf Legal, P.C., San Francisco, CA, Craig Lewis Goodmark, Goodmark Law Firm, LLC, Decatur, GA, Gerald R. Weber, Law Offices of Gerry Weber, LLC, Atlanta, GA, for Plaintiff.
John C. Jones, Law Offices of John C. Jones, Marietta, GA, William F. Amideo, Law Office of William F. Amideo, Alpharetta, GA, for Defendants.
This case involves the constitutionality of a strip search conducted by a school official on a seventh grade boy in the presence of other students. It is before the Court on the parties' Cross Motions for Summary Judgment [Docs. 112, 114, 116, 117] and Plaintiffs Motion to Strike Declaration of Latasha Lowe [Doc. 137]. The Court's rulings are set forth below.
D.H. was a twelve-year old seventh grader at Eddie White Academy on February 8, 2011 when he was required to strip down to his underwear by an assistant principal searching for marijuana.2 (See D.H. Dep. at 7, 14, 59.) Eddie White Academy (“EWA”) is a public school in the Clayton County School District consisting of grades kindergarten through eighth grade. (Ratcliff Dep. at 80; McDowell Dep. at 152.) Although this case involves only the claims of D.H., he was the fourth student to be searched for suspected possession of marijuana at the school. Therefore it is helpful to first discuss the events leading up to the search of D.H. to put the search in context.
On February 8, 2011, EWA Assistant Principal Sheneaise Williams Ratcliff (“Ratcliff”) was informed by the School Resource Officers3 (“SRO”), Ricky Redding (“Deputy Redding”), that a student had reported that “[D.V.] had drugs in the school and was passing them around the classroom.”4 (Ratcliff Dep. Ex. 1; Ratcliff Dep. at 10; Redding Dep. at 51, 86–87.) According to Ratcliff, “there had been prior situations with D.V. and speculation of drugs,” and that he had been searched on several other occasions for suspicion of bringing weapons and drugs to school. (Ratcliff Dep. at 32–33, 40.)
At that time, the seventh grade students were in their first period classes. (Ratcliff Dep. at 39–40.) Ratcliff pulled D.V.'s schedule of classes, and went to retrieve him out of his first period art class. (Id. at 39.) Ratcliff asked D.V. to bring his book bag with him to her office. (Id.) Once in her office, Ratcliff asked D.V. to open his book bag and empty its contents. (Id. at 39–41; Ratcliff Dep. Ex. 1.) D.V. complied, emptied all of the contents of his book bag on a table, and Ratcliff looked inside the bag's zipper compartment. (Ratcliff Dep. at 40–41.) It appeared nothing was in the book bag. (Id. ) Although she does not remember asking D.V. to pull his pockets inside out, Ratcliff testified that she “might have because that was typical.” (Ratcliff Dep. at 41.) Eventually during the search, D.V. stated “I know what you all are looking for,” and identified another seventh grade student, R.C., as someone he had seen with marijuana. (Ratcliff Dep. at 42–43; Redding Dep. at 87–88.) Although Ratcliff testified that D.V. did not mention where R.C. had hidden the marijuana, according to her February 9, 2011 written statement, D.V. indicated that the marijuana was in R.C.'s book bag. (Ratcliff Dep. at 43; Ratcliff Dep. Ex. 1.)
Ratcliff then escorted D.V. to the front office to wait while she went to retrieve R.C. from his class. (Ratcliff Dep. at 43–44; Ratcliff Dep. Ex. 1.) Ratcliff brought R.C. to Deputy Redding's office and asked him whether he had drugs on him. (Ratcliff Dep. at 44–46; Ratcliff Dep. Ex. 1.) According to Ratcliff, after R.C. denied having drugs, she asked him to open and empty his book bag5 and she performed a search of the book bag and found nothing.6 (Ratcliff Dep. at 46–48; see also Redding Dep. at 89.) During the search, Ratcliff perceived R.C. to be visibly nervous and thought he was being untruthful about having drugs. (Ratcliff Dep. at 49.) Ratcliff also testified that she believes she would have asked R.C. to turn his pockets inside out. (Ratcliff Dep. at 50.) R.C. then informed Ratcliff that T.D., also a student in the seventh grade, was in possession of marijuana at school.7 (Ratcliff Dep. at 49–50; Ratcliff Dep. Ex. 1; Redding Dep. at 90.)
By this time, the seventh grade students were in their second period classes. (Ratcliff Dep. at 51.) Ratcliff left Deputy Redding's office to go find T.D. in his second period class. (Ratcliff Dep. at 50–51.) While Ratcliff was gone to find T.D., Deputy Redding waited in the office with R.C. According to Deputy Redding, R.C. was fidgeting. Redding asked R.C. to remove his shoes and socks. (Redding Dep. at 91, 98.) R.C. removed his shoes and socks and a bag of marijuana and two rolled blunts fell out onto the floor. (Redding Dep. at 91–92.) Deputy Redding asked R.C. to pick the marijuana up and put it on the desk beside him. (Redding Dep. at 92.) Deputy Redding informed Ratcliff upon her return that marijuana had been found on R.C., who indicated he had gotten the marijuana from D.V. (Redding Dep. at 92.) R.C. told Ratcliff that D.V. had marijuana in his book bag. (Redding Dep. at 99.)
When Ratcliff returned to Deputy Redding's office with T.D., Deputy Redding said to him “you know what we're looking for so ... give it to us.” (Ratcliff Dep. at 52; Ratcliff Dep. Ex. 1; Redding Dep. at 92–93.) In response, T.D. “turned away from [Ratcliff,] unbuttoned his pants and reached in what appeared to be his underwear and pulled out” marijuana wrapped in plastic. (Ratcliff Dep. Ex. 1; Ratcliff Dep. at 52–55; Redding Dep. at 93 ().) According to Ratcliff, she saw T.D. reach in his pants and believed he was reaching into his underwear and he did not appear to be pulling it out “from between his belt and the outside of his pants.” (Ratcliff Dep. at 54–56.) T.D. turned around, with his pants slightly undone, and put the marijuana he took out from inside his pants onto Deputy Redding's desk. (Ratcliff Dep. at 55, 86.) The “bag” of marijuana found on T.D. was about the size of the exhibit sticker used for the deposition exhibits in the case. (McDowell Dep. 104–105.)
In her deposition, Ratcliff states that T.D. told her that he got the drugs from D.H. (Ratcliff Dep. at 57.) However, her February 9, 2011 written statement does not indicate that D.H. was identified by T.D. as having drugs. After counsel referred Ratcliff to her written statement, Ratcliff stated that she was not in the room when she believes T.D. implicated D.H. but “just assumed it was the next child,” apparently because D.H. was the next student that Deputy Redding asked to see. (Ratcliff Dep. at 61–64.) Ratcliff's written statement indicates that she left the room after T.D. produced the marijuana from his underwear in order to get fellow Assistant Principal Tyrus McDowell (“McDowell”) to take over the investigation. (Ratcliff Dep. Ex. 1; Ratcliff Dep. at 57, 60; McDowell Dep. 88.) Her written statement further indicates that when she returned to Deputy Redding's office to meet Mr. McDowell she observed more drugs on his desk and asked Deputy Redding where the drugs had come from. (Ratcliff Dep. Ex. 1.) Redding informed her that the drugs had been found in R.C.'s sock. (Id. ) Mr. McDowell then arrived to continue the searches.8 (Id. ) (Id. ) Ratcliffs written statement is consistent with: (1) Deputy Redding's testimony that T.D. said that the marijuana came from R.C., (Redding Dep. at 97), (2) Mr. McDowell's testimony that he asked Ratcliff to get D.H. after searching D.V. and that it was D.V. who had identified D.H., (McDowell Dep. at 111, 158), and (3) T.D.'s testimony that he never stated to anyone that D.H. had marijuana at school, (T.D. Dep. at 52).
Ratcliff decided to turn the situation over to McDowell because T.D. seemed embarrassed and uncomfortable after reaching into his underwear in front of her during the search for the marijuana. (Ratcliff Dep. at 57, 87–88.) She left the room and went to call Mr. McDowell to let him know what had transpired with the search of T.D. (Ratcliff Dep. at 89.) Ratcliff testified that she informed McDowell that the student had “pulled drugs out from what appeared to be his underwear.” (Ratcliff Dep. at 57–58.)
According to McDowell, Ratcliff called and asked him whether he had ever been aware of an incident where a student would hide marijuana in his or her underwear, to which McDowell responded he had not. (McDowell Dep. at 88–89.) McDowell testified that Ratcliff advised him that one or more students had hidden marijuana in their underwear, while her testimony indicates she only identified one student. (McDowell Dep. at 89; Ratcliff Dep. at 57–58.) Although at the time of his deposition, McDowell could not recall specifically whether Ratcliff said the marijuana was found in the student's underwear, his waistband, or his pants, in his Responses to Plaintiff's Interrogatories, McDowell indicated that it was his “understanding that marijuana had already been found in the waistband of the underwear of one or both students who had already been searched.” (McDowell Dep. at 98; Doc. 138–8 at 3.) McDowell was not aware at the time that only one student had been found with marijuana in his underwear and believed that it may have been two students. (Id. )
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