Annette John-Hall: A lesson in racial discord

Any teenager will tell you that senseless fights happen almost every day in high school. Detentions and suspensions are served and students move on, in the hope they have learned their lessons.

But the penalty meted out to Tiana Drummond-Phiri by Archbishop Carroll High School in Radnor and the Delaware County District Attorney's Office gives new meaning to "cruel and unusual punishment."

As with so many overblown teenage spats, it all started with a dustup. On March 16, an argument erupted between two classmates at Carroll - in theology class, of all places. A white student complained about the teacher's erasing a classmate's name from a demerit list on the board, suggesting that the reprieve was only because the student was black.

Dozing in the back of the room, senior Steven Farley said in court testimony, he heard the commotion and yelled "shut up" at the black student several times.

Tiana, a senior, was not in the class, but entered the oral sparring in the hallway afterward, taking up for the black student, a friend of hers.

"What's your friend's problem?" she asked Farley, who told her to get away from him and to "shut the f- up," according to the police report.

Their angry exchange marked the beginning of a high school beef that would have an unfathomable result.

Though the two were not even the original combatants, they sniped at each other the rest of the day and into the next.

Tiana, who took the train back to Overbrook every day, called her ex-boyfriend to meet her at the station and ride home with her.

Her ex, Jamar Cann, arrived with a friend. Farley showed up, too - driving there with a group of his pals. Witnesses testified that virtually the whole senior class followed. Rumors had circulated throughout the day that there would be a fight, they said.

And there was. Cann and Farley exchanged punches, though witnesses couldn't agree on exactly what happened.

What is certain is that at some point, Farley ended up with a fractured eye from a sucker punch inflicted by an "unknown black male," not Cann, according to the police report.

If anyone was to be charged, you'd think it would be the people throwing the punches.

Farley. Cann. Unknown black male sucker-puncher.

But no.

What happened next defies logic.

Authorities sucker-punched Tiana, though she stood 40 yards away and never threw a punch herself.

They didn't just throw the book at her - they pummeled her with the entire Criminal Code, nine charges in all: simple assault, aggravated assault, terroristic threats, three different counts of harassment, two counts of conspiracy, and reckless endangerment.

All because of a phone call that they said started the trouble.

"The person who created the situation is clearly her," said Thomas F. Laurie Jr., a Delaware County assistant district attorney, before her sentencing in Media last Friday. "She's the one who had these guys show up and inflict serious injury."

You don't need a police dog to sniff out this bull.

The charges were so bogus that the judge found Tiana not guilty of eight of the nine during her trial in December - but let conspiracy to commit simple assault stand.

Let's see if I have this straight.

Tiana had to be at the station to take the train home. No one can explain why Farley was there, including Farley. (Well, the detective noted in his report that kids often go to the station to hang out and smoke cigarettes. Nothing like a cigarette after a hard day at school.

Farley fought. Tiana didn't.

Tiana gets slapped with nine criminal charges. No one even looks in Farley's direction.

Tiana goes home fearing her fate. Farley, fractured eye and all, goes out later that day to indulge in some underage drinking for more than two hours, according to his own testimony.

Farley is allowed to testify without repercussions. But Cann, Tiana's primary witness, is pulled from the stand after the prosecutor asks for a conference, according to Tiana's lawyer. A public defender called by the court then tells him he could be criminally charged if he testifies. He doesn't.

Need more travesty?

Tiana is suspended from school for the rest of the year. Farley? Welcomed back with open arms.

For Tiana, the suspension was a shock. Her mother, Violet Phiri, said that when she took Tiana to school two days after the incident, she was assured by school officials that there would be no repercussions for the off-campus brawl. But later that day, Tiana was pulled out of class, summoned to the school office, and aggressively interrogated by Detective James Santoliquito of the Radnor Township Police Department - without counsel.

It was a traumatizing experience, Tiana said. She called her mother, who arrived to find her daughter alone.

The next day, Tiana was called to the principal's office. Her mother said the school wanted Tiana to write a statement saying that Tiana had never had any racial problems at school, nor had reported any. She refused and was told to go home.

At the insistence of Tiana's mother, the Archdiocese of Philadelphia sent a letter weeks later confirming Tiana's suspension. She also received a notification from the prosecutor's office instructing her when to report to the police station for fingerprinting and processing.

This teen, who only months before was lauded by her teachers as a stellar student, even enthusiastically supported for an academic scholarship, was now barred from going anywhere near the school. God forbid she'd infect the students with such gangster tendencies.

The whole ordeal devastated her. Even though she lived only blocks away from Overbrook High, her parents, South African immigrants, had sacrificed to send her to Carroll.

Tiana was forced to complete her studies at home to earn her degree. By mail.

Whatever happened to being innocent until proven guilty? Or student mediation? Or conflict resolution? Or Catholic values? What could students possibly have learned from such draconian actions, as though only one of them had shown poor judgment?

The school didn't return my calls, referring all questions to the archdiocese. An archdiocesean spokesperson said she was not allowed to discuss personnel matters.

The callousness of the archdiocese's decision to suspend her still bothers Tiana. "It seemed like they had already made up their minds about me - that's what hurt me the most," she said.

At her sentencing last Friday, it was obvious just how much the deck was stacked against her.

Common Pleas Court Judge Charles C. Keeler was clearly aggravated by Tiana's lawyer. "My client's an honor student, waiting for the train to go home," William J. Ciancaglini said. "If this were a white honor student and a big black kid was yelling in her face, guess who's getting arrested. It's the black kid, guaranteed. . . . I'm sorry if I've offended the court."

"You have," said the judge, who admonished him with "you be quiet" and "you shut up" later in the proceedings.

The prosecutor made sure to use the ample time allowed him to scold Tiana for having the nerve to be offended by her peer's racial remark, which he declared unintentional. She missed "the opportunity that was presented to give someone the benefit of the doubt, to engage someone who said an improper remark," he insisted. "This young lady took it way too far."

Did I forget to say the school is just 6 percent black?

Meanwhile, Santoliquito, the detective who investigated the incident, chummily sat with Farley's parents in court and escorted them outside.

I tried to ask the Farleys why their son went to the train station. "No comment," they said.

I also wanted to ask the detective why they never found the unknown sucker-puncher.

He said he couldn't talk.

In the end, Tiana received one year's probation and a fine to be determined. Her family already has paid $4,000 in legal fees.

She plans to appeal.

Now a 19-year-old freshman at Temple, Tiana is far from the carefree student she once was. The incident has hardened her. She goes to class and back to the sanctuary of her dorm room, where she watches Law and Order marathons.

She's pushing forward with her lifelong dream of becoming a lawyer, not derailed by her ordeal but facing a more complicated hurdle if she loses her appeal.

Too bad her first experience with the legal system has turned out to be such a harsh lesson in unequal justice.