A federal jury is in the process of deliberating the civil-rights lawsuit of Arnetta and Cynthia McCloud.
They are the mother and daughter who claimed that in 2001, they were pulled over, strip searched on the side of a public road and later taken, against their will, to a relative’s house where a drug raid ensued.
While jurors decide what really happened and ponder how much the case should be worth, what is clear is that although the police seemingly had probable cause, they were wrong in their handling of the situation.
According to the Tallahassee Democrat, deputies from the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Department claimed the McCloud’s volunteered to go to a relative’s home in Monticello. There, they allegedly invited the deputies to search the home for drugs to prove their innocence after the husband, Freddy McCloud, was suspected of selling drugs.
Were the McClouds innocent victims?
Probably not.
Maybe the police were onto something when they suspected McCloud’s husband of selling cocaine.
After all, marijuana seeds and cocaine residue were found in a relative’s home during the raid.
Maybe they are a family of cocaine pushing hustlers.
At the end of the day though, what should be obvious is that deputies should have let the family leave after repeated searches of the car proved fruitless, whether you believe that the McClouds were law abiding citizens or not.
Alaythia Burkins for the editorial board.