ACLU Sues Pawtucket Officials Citing "Race-Based Discriminatory Police Practices Permeating U.S."

ACLU Sues Pawtucket Officials Citing "Race-Based Discriminatory Police Practices Permeating U.S."

ACLU of RI cooperating attorneys Shannah Kurland and Lynette Labinger have filed suit in federal court over a Pawtucket School Resource Officer’s (SRO) "gratuitous and unlawful handcuffing and arrest" last year of Tre’sur Johnson, a 13-year-old African-American honors student at Goff Middle School. 

The ACLU said the legal action was taken Monday "as conflict over race-based discriminatory police practices permeates the country" -- and comes after the ACLU sent a legal claim for damages to the City of Pawtucket over the incident in January. 

ACLU on Suit

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The suit alleges that the defendants’ treatment of her violated numerous constitutional and statutory rights, including her right to be free from unreasonable searches and seizures.

This is the second lawsuit in a week filed by the ACLU of RI over what they say have been :disturbing and questionable arrests made by SROs in Rhode Island schools" -- a lawsuit filed last Thursday charged a Narragansett High School SRO with unlawfully assaulting and arresting a student with disabilities.

The latest case dates back to last June, when Tre’sur and another student got into a scuffle in the schoolyard before the school day started. It was quickly broken up by other students, and neither student was hurt. 

According to the ACLU

This latest case dates back to last June, when Tre’sur and another student got into a scuffle in the schoolyard before the school day started. It was quickly broken up by other students, and neither student was hurt. 

However, an hour later, SRO Darren Rose, relying solely on watching a video of the kerfuffle, decided to arrest Tre’sur for “disorderly conduct” over the objections of her mother who had come to the school immediately after receiving a call about the incident. According to Tre’sur, Rose had earlier in the year told students at the school that he was “itching” to arrest someone.

Tre’sur, who was an honor roll student and had no prior disciplinary infractions, was handcuffed, taken to the police station, and kept in a cell for close to an hour before being released to her mother. The charge was disposed of when Tre’sur appeared before the City’s juvenile hearing board. The fracas leading to Tre’sur’s arrest prompted only a two-day school suspension for both girls. Because of the anxiety and fear generated by her arrest, Tre’sur has not returned to Goff or any other Pawtucket public school, but instead has attended a private school since the incident.

The lawsuit argues that the arrest was made in clear violation of state law, which generally bars arresting individuals for misdemeanors without a warrant. The suit further argues that Rose, with the knowledge and consent of the school principal Lisa Benedetti Ramzi, maliciously arrested Tre’sur “not for any reason having to do with safety but because he wanted ‘to make an example’ of this child by publicly displaying her being arrested.” Among other relief, the suit seeks punitive damages against Rose and Ramzi for exercising a “gross abuse” of their powers, and a court order formally confirming the unlawful nature of the City’s conduct, including violating the Fourth Amendment.
 
“This pattern of criminalizing Black girls in our schools is not ok.  And it's definitely not ‘reasonable,’ especially not when the police violate a state law in order to do it," said Kurland. 

ACLU Executive Director Steve Brown said the following on Monday:

“The two lawsuits that the ACLU has had to file in the last week shine a spotlight on the failure of schools to rein in the powers of SROs or to hold them accountable. This is not how a school should be treating the children in its care.”