Abuse of authority? Retired judge, law professor question practices used during traffic stop of Shaw University students
Retired North Carolina Superior Court Judge Carl Fox and North Carolina Central University School of Law professor Dr. Irving Joyner discussed the legality of the Oct. 5 traffic stop of a bus carrying 18 Shaw University students.
Posted — UpdatedThe U.S. Department of Justice is working to determine whether it will investigate a controversial traffic stop involving 18 Shaw University students.
On Tuesday, WRAL Investigates spoke with retired North Carolina Superior Court Judge Carl Fox and North Carolina Central University School of Law professor Dr. Irving Joyner. Fox and Joyner said the October stop was legal, but they welcome an independent investigation to decide if the subsequent search was racially motivated.
On Oct. 5, Spartanburg County, South Carolina, deputies pulled over a charter bus carrying 18 Shaw University students along Interstate 85. The charter bus taking the students to the Center for Financial Advancement Conference in Atlanta.
Deputies reported the driver was swerving out of their lane and cited him.
- "How many people do you have on the bus?"
- "[How many ] students?”
- “Are y'all on a trip somewhere?"
- "Are you from a church or school?"
- "What are the age ranges of the students?”
Fox said the line of questioning was troublesome.
“Those kinds of questions are not directed at a traffic stop,” Fox said. "That's trying to develop some type of cause to search this vehicle."
The driver consented to a search, and nothing was found in the bus.
The consent is what made the search legal. However, Fox believes the driver should have objected without any probable cause.
"They are not legitimate stops,” Fox said. “And, they are an abuse of the authority of the officer to use these kind of things that they normally ignore as a basis for stopping busses like this.”
Joyner said it was uncalled for to use a drug-sniffing dog for a minor traffic violation.
"They should not have asked the driver to search under those circumstances,” Joyner said.
It’s a practice, that Fox and Joyner said is used more than people realize. They said it is disproportionately used on Black and Hispanic people.
Wright said were worried about the safety of the people on the bus. He said deputies were concerned about a possibly sleepy bus driver who was failing to maintain his lane.
“This bus was unmarked with tinted windows,” Wright said Monday. “We had no idea and no way to know who was on that bus.”
"I wish racism would die the ugly, cruel death it deserves,” Wright said. “If anything we are ever doing is racist, I want to know it, and I want to fix it, and I want to never let it happen again.”
Whether or not the search was racially motivated is something five Democratic members of Congress want the Justice Department to answer by conducting a pattern-of-practice investigation of the Spartanburg County Sheriff's Office.
"These situations are highly charged and highly emotional,” Ross said. “And so, what we need to know is what happened and why it happened.”
Many people want answers about the search that happened after the stop.
“To bring a dog out to every situation I think that’s worthy of inquiry,” Ross said.
Ross said she is still waiting to hear back from the Department of Justice about whether or not they will take on this investigation.
The Spartanburg County Sheriff's Office said 39 other buses were stopped the same week as part of Operation Rolling Thunder.
Wright did not give a reason for the search other than to say I-85 is frequently used to transport illegal narcotics.
Meanwhile, Shaw University said it is not commenting on Wright’s remarks until all investigations are complete.
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