Benedict to Pay After Strip Search

NEWS ARTICLE EXCERPT

By: Wendy Warren, The State (Columbia, SC), December 12, 2996

A jury has decided that Benedict College must pay for strip-searching a high school student.

Late Wednesday evening, a Richland County jury awarded high school student Lavinia Bovain $10,000 in actual damages and $150,000 in punitive damages after she claims she was emotionally scarred by the strip search.

Meanwhile, another 14 potential plaintiffs might sue the school, one of the lawyers who represented Bovain said.

Bovain was participating in a program that helps promising high school students prepare for college when another girl reported money had been stolen from her purse. Instructors strip-searched all the students in the program, looking for the money.

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One of the plaintiff's lawyers said it was a statement that some behavior won't be tolerated.

"What it says is this community finds some behavior intolerable," said Dick Harpootlian.

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Contact The State archives, http://www.thestate.com/ for the full article.