BERKELEY COUNTY, S.C.—Two Berkeley County eighth graders claim they were wrongly targeted because of the resemblance they bared to a sketch of a person wanted for questioning in the shooting of Lt. Will Rogers, a deputy with the Berkeley County Sheriff’s Office.
Not long after SLED released the sketch to the media, Sedgefield Middle School students Jameel McGee and Abraham Owens said that they were taken to the principal’s office.
“They said he was in his 20s. I’m 15,” student Jameel McGee said. “Somebody at the school had to mention my name for them to say I’m connected to it, and come to the school to question me.”
On Friday, representatives with the National Action Network held a press conference outside of Sedgefield Middle School to address their concerns. Elder James Johnson said it was a bus driver who reportedly claimed the two students looked like the person in the sketch.
“When they got off the bus, they were herded into the school, they came into the school, where the principal contained them and started asking questions, and also going through their backpacks and their lockers,” said
Johnson.
SLED agents came to the school to collect DNA samples; however, only Owens’ mother gave permission.
“I was scared,” said Zelda Varner, the mother of Abraham Owens. “I didn’t want them to think I was hiding anything, so I told them that they could.”
Although the McGee and Owens claimed they were threatened with jail time, McGee still refused to give DNA.
“I don’t want them to get my DNA sample because if they have evidence or not they can put it on there and frame me more something I didn’t do,” said McGee.
Both students say they now feel like outcasts after being tied to the investigation. According to Johnson, he believes the students’ rights were violated.
“We are holding the school accountable for this, the principal and the bus driver,” Johnson stated.
School district officials say, however, school officials didn’t violate any policies.
In fact, South Carolina law states that “school administrators and officials may conduct reasonable searches on school property of lockers, desks, vehicles, and personal belongings such as purses, book bags, wallets, and satchels with or without probable cause.”
According to SLED spokesperson Thom Berry, the one DNA sample that was taken will be destroyed but did not give a time line as to when.
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