MANCHESTER, Tenn. (WTVF) — A federal judge has ruled that three Tennessee Department of Children's Services employees can be sued after their actions during a Coffee County traffic stop in 2023.
Bianca Clayborne and her partner, Deonte Williams, were driving through Coffee County, where a traffic stop resulted in the Tennessee Department of Children's Services taking all five of their children. A year later, Clayborne sued everyone involved in federal court, including four individual Tennessee Highway Patrol officers, four DCS employees, the Coffee County government and two sheriff's deputies. The traffic stop happened when Clayborne and William were traveling through Tennessee to a funeral in Chicago. The suit said they were initially pulled over for a "slow poke" violation. During a full search of the car, troopers found less than five grams of marijuana in the car, which is typically a simple possession offense that is dealt with by issuing a citation.
Instead, the pair were arrested. And rather than being free to leave with her children like the Tennessee Highway Patrol said, she left alone. Charges against Clayborne were ultimately dropped.
During the lawsuit process, the state requested that the workers no longer be included because they were acting their official duties. The judge in the case ruled that Clayborne could continue to assert those workers violated her family's rights.
"Once the troopers cited Clayborne and chose not to arrest her, she and her children should have been free to leave," the original lawsuit stated. "However, the troopers did not release Clayborne from custody. Instead, the troopers decided that they were required by policy to bring Clayborne to the jail to meet with the DCS workers who were waiting for her. Pursuant to Tennessee and federal law, Clayborne should have been free to leave, but the troopers kept her in custody anyway."
The court case will continue forward in federal court.
