TBA Law Blog


Posted by: Julia Wilburn on Feb 8, 2024

A Georgia woman, Bianca Clayborne, has filed a lawsuit alleging her constitutional rights and those of her children were violated by Tennessee law enforcement officers and state social workers following a misdemeanor traffic stop last February. The lawsuit names four Tennessee Highway Patrol officers involved in the traffic stop, three Department of Children’s Services (DCS) caseworkers who obtained a court order to take the children, 10 Coffee County Sheriff Department officers who detained the family at the county’s jail and Coffee County, which is responsible its officers’ supervision and training, reports the Tennessee Lookout. The traffic stop for “dark tint and not actively passing” on Interstate-24 culminated in the arrest of Clayborne's partner, Deonte Williams, and all five children being placed in foster care for 55 days. In a search of the car, troopers found fewer than five grams of marijuana — a misdemeanor offense which typically receives a citation, according to the news source.