Shai Werts’ case

Shai Werts is a young man with a wonderful future, I think. He is the starting quarterback for the Georgia Southern football team and has great tools for that position. He has an athletic scholarship and his coaches really love his leadership, his demeanor and his decision-making. While his prospects for playing football on Sunday, at least at his chosen position, are questionable because of his 5-foot-11-inch height, there are other quarterbacks who have overcome that, like current NFL MVP favorite, Russell Wilson, also 5 feet, 11 inches tall. When reading his story, one cannot help but become a fan of Shai. Oh, did I mention Shai is black? Should not matter, but after you read his story, tell me that race did not factor into Shai’s story. 

Shai was headed back to school on July 31, getting ready to crank up the Crazy Corona Football Year. As he drove through Saluda County, SC, he had the misfortune to pass Deputy Browder, of the Saluda County Sheriff’s Office. Deputy Browder claims that Shai was speeding (a horrific 80 mph in a 55 mph zone) so Deputy Browder turned his car around to go chase Shai, because arresting people for doing 80 mph apparently really excites Deputy Browder. Browder could not find Shai, so he presumed that Shai had “dipped off,” which is law enforcement lingo for getting off the main road to avoid detection. However, as luck would have it, Shai had made a wrong turn and when Browder saw him, it was blue light activation time.  

As the lights penetrated the night sky, Shai recalled his mother’s advice. Shona Rice had cautioned her son about the hazards of being a young black man driving a car when stopped by the police. That is a conversation I never had to have. My kids were constantly subjected to the concept of “respect” that I expected in any police encounter—but it was for my kids to show the respect. Unless you have had your head buried in the sand, you have seen clips of police-citizen encounters where disrespect is plentiful, on both sides. Some of my white friends love to say people who abide by the law and show officers respect will not have trouble out of officers. Lots of Facebook memes espouse that. And it is true most of the time in “White America.” But there are police officers that do not play by those rules. We have excellent law enforcement in Houston County, with chiefs and a sheriff who do excellent jobs of policing while being respectful. I must tell you such good relations between police and citizens, especially black citizens, are not always the case. That is not exactly a news flash, is it? 

Shai did not immediately pull over, which irritated Deputy Browder. Shai turned on his flashers, called “the lady” at 911 dispatch and looked for a lighted stopping place with people present. Deputy Browder was immediately told by 911 about Shai’s intentions, to which Browder ratcheted up his response by obtaining two backup units and activating his sirens. Classy. Later he even told a fellow deputy: “He thinks it matters if he calls (dispatch). It doesn’t matter.” In other words, Deputy Browder is the authority and that is it. 

When Shai did pull over, Deputy Browder was professional as he made his decision to attempt to ruin Shai’s life. Speeding is, almost everywhere, a citation offense. Shai, however, was destined for jail. Enabled by a sheriff’s office that had a far too aggressive arrest system (but they are considering changes now, they say). Deputy Browder began to search Shai’s car. As the two deputies searched, their comments show they had decided that Shai obviously threw the drugs out of the window. Huh? Where did this speeding citation head down the drug path? Did I mention Shai is black? Tell me what triggered a drug search, if not race? Their interaction, at that point, with Shai had been very brief. They had no reason to be searching his car.  

“He’s about to be (expletive) out of luck,” a deputy says on the video. There you go.  The abuse of power summed up succinctly. So, the deputies pull out their $2 drug test (I am not kidding) and scrape some white substance off the hood of Shai’s car, swish it around in a vial and declare the substance to be cocaine. When they ask Shai about it, he says: “I swear to God that’s bird doo-doo.” Deputy Browder says, “Well I swear to God it’s not because I just tested it and it turned pink.” The deputies laugh incredulously and take Shai to jail for possession of cocaine.  

You have heard of white privilege? This case hinged on quarterback privilege. Because he is a star athlete and the bird poop arrest made national news, the “drug” got tested in eight days due to an expedite request from the prosecutor. Shai had been granted bond after one night in jail, but sometimes that does not happen. Even in lovely Houston County, had Shai been on probation (for even the most minor of offenses) he would not have been eligible for a bond for 45 days. The bird poop drug test was, of course, negative for illicit drugs when tested at the South Carolina State Laboratory. The drug charge was dropped and expunged from Shai’s record. The speeding is still pending. All is well, right? 

The South Carolina prosecutor gets a gold star. Expediting the test made this travesty of justice relatively short lived. The Solicitor would get another gold star if he’d dismiss the speeding case too. Enough is enough. The sheriff gets a frowny face, if for no other reason than using a widely discredited field test to determine people’s fate. Ridiculous. The fact that two fellow deputies went along with Deputy Browder tells me this sheriff’s office is more about confrontation than concern for justice. Deputy Browder resigned for reasons unknown. The deputy did a “legal” arrest, but he took advantage of the notion that we rely on our law enforcement system to be fair and honest and empathetic. 

For those of you who would scrape bird poop off the hood of a car, I hope you would turn the case over to a detective and not arrest anyone until the bird poop is analyzed, because Shai, his family, his football team and the good citizens of Saluda County, do not need this to happen again. 

Kelly Burke, retired attorney, former district attorney and magistrate judge, writes about the law, rock ’n’ roll, and politics or anything that strikes him. These articles are not designed to give legal advice, but are designed to inform the public about how the law affects their daily lives. Contact Kelly at dakellyburke@gmail.com to comment on this article or suggest articles that you’d like to see, and visit his website at www.kellyrburke.com to view prior columns and contact Kelly. 

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