TO UPDATE: Five young children who were taken from their parents following a traffic stop in Coffee County nearly two months ago have been returned to their parents, a family attorney said Friday.
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A black Georgia family is fighting for the return of their five young children from the care of the Tennessee Department of Children’s Services after a traffic stop in Manchester, Tennessee last month.
Bianca Clayborne and Deonte Williams were taking Interstate 24 to a family funeral in Chicago – the kids were sleeping in the back seat of the car.
A Tennessee Highway Patrol officer stopped them because they were “dark tinted and driving in the left lane while not actively overtaking,” according to a Feb. 17 subpoena issued to the couple.
The officer searched the family’s Dodge Durango and then arrested Williams for possession of five grams of marijuana, a Tennessee felony. Clayborne was brought in but not arrested.
Clayborne said she was told she could walk with the kids and follow a THP car to get to the Coffee County Justice Center to frame Williams.
Six hours after the traffic stop, Clayborne sat on a bench at the Criminal Justice Center awaiting release of Williams and the five children – a nursing baby, now four months old, and two, three, five and seven years old, “The Old Woman ‘ was forcibly removed from her side while an officer prevented her from reaching out to her crying baby, she said.
Almost a month later, the children remain in the care of the Tennessee Department of Children’s Services. The couple’s lawyers say the state’s actions are extreme, abnormal and a violation of the parents’ rights.
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