S

Two years after a Georgia family was detained and their children taken away by DCS following a traffic stop at Exit 114 in Manchester, Coffee County and a host of defendants await their day in federal court amid allegations they abused their power in violating the family’s rights in removing the five small children.

The mother, Bianca Clayborne filed the suit one year ago in the Eastern District Court in Chattanooga maintaining a list of DCS workers, state troopers and the Coffee County Sherriff’s Department “illegally tore apart and terrorized (her) family” following a traffic stop on Feb. 17, 2023. Since the lawsuit was filed there have been 89 separate filings of responses, notices, motions for attorney withdrawals and a myriad of other legal notices. In an answer to the suit, the Coffee County defendants deny the allegations and maintain there is insufficient information contained in the suit. There is also reportedly a modified suit waiting approval by the judge.

The suit maintains Clayborne and her partner, Deonte Williams were pulled over and that during the stop there was a small amount of marijuana found in the car. Plaintiff attorneys maintain that amount would normally lead to a citation and not arrest. However, the suit contends Clayborne and Williams were made to come in for further investigation, during which they say a private audience between DCS and the Judge Perry was held, following which the children, ranging in ages from four months (still breast-feeding to 7-years-old, were taken from her custody. They were not returned for 55 days. The reason for the taking of the children and the delay in returning them was not publicly commented on by DCS. Clayborne claims she was not party to the hearing between DCS and the judge following which her children were taken. That hearing, the plaintiff maintains, happened about six hours after they were first stopped.

“DCS did not tell Clayborne about the hearing of offer her an opportunity to participate,” the suit reads. “If she had been told about it, she would have attended the hearing and argued to the Judge why DCS should not be allowed to tear her family apart. Instead, DCS concealed the existence of a hearing from her, surrounded her car with spike strips so that she and her children could not leave the jail.”

She further asserts that the children were taken even after one of the troopers at the scene said there was no reason to separate her from her children. She also said she was physically restrained at the jail while DCS took her children away.

During their time away at various foster homes, Clayborne said her children suffered mental trauma. “During the 55 days, the children suffered severe emotional trauma from being separated from each other and their parents,” the suit reads.

Clayborne maintains she and her family were victims of false imprisonment and that their 4^thAmendment and 14^th Amendment rights were violated.

In specifically naming Coffee County as a defendant, the plaintiff accused the entity of not properly training its employees and that they had “deliberate indifference” to the rights of others. The exact amount being sought in the suit is not spelled out in the paperwork as they are asking for damages, both real and punitive.