Marion County Sheriff Apologizes for White Supremacy: Black Couple Seized, Handcuffed, Car Searched by Overseers (officers) @ Plantation

From [HERE] and [HERE] The sheriff of Marion County issued a statement Monday regarding allegations of a white deputy improperly stopping and racially profiling two Black actors on the roadside.

Hollywood couple Cherie Johnson and Dennis White say they were improperly stopped by police, put in handcuffs and harshly questioned during a recent weekend getaway in South Carolina (9/22). They claim the incident took place because of their race. Johnson is best known for her roles in TV shows "Punky Brewster" and "Family Matters," and White, from the movie "Notorious." 

According to Mr. White the couple had pulled to the side of the road next to a cotton field to take in "the history and the oppression that those little white balls created decades ago," White states in his account.

White said, Marion County Deputy S. Barfield pulled up behind their car, ran their registration, and began to ask White a "plethora of questions." Deputy Barfield told White that Johnson had a warrant for her arrest, handcuffed both of them, and later admitted that no such warrant existed, the report states.

According to White, deputies repeatedly asked to search his vehicle, and when they did, they found nothing.

"He told me ... I was being detained for his safety because he didn't know me," Johnson said.

"At this time I became distraught," White wrote in his account of the incident. "I have been racially profiled several times in my lifetime but it touched my core when my woman was included."

"He un-cuffed us and let us go. No apology, no nothing," White said in the CNN report. "At no point in history is this justified, especially not in this day and age…South Carolina has been known to treat African-American [sic] as second-class citizens. It's not right and it's not fair."

In response to this incident, Marion County Sheriff Mark Richardson issued the following statement:

"Discrimination in any form, including racial profiling, is strictly prohibited by this department and as Sheriff of Marion County SC, I can assure you I will take immediate and appropriate action to investigate the allegations of racial profiling made by Mr. White and Ms. Johnson. This matter will be dealt with by an internal investigation within the department and I will also ask the State law Enforcement Division to review the allegation made against Deputy Barfield."

WMBF News has requested any dash-camera video from this incident, but Sheriff Richardson said that only two patrol cars have working dash cams. The county denied his request for six cameras in the most recent budget, he said.

WMBF News has also requested a copy of Deputy Barfield's personnel file.