Georgia Father Fighting To Share Unredacted Video of Coffee County, TN Traffic Stop

A Georgia father is fighting a Coffee County judge’s order that bans him from sharing the complete, unredacted video of a misdemeanor traffic stop on I-24 in Manchester conducted by the Tennessee Highway Patrol in February.  Parents Deonte Williams and Bianca Clayborne and their 5 young children were traveling through Tennessee on their way to a funeral in Illinois when THP pulled them over for “dark tint and traveling in the left lane while not actively passing”.  THP arrested Mr. Williams for misdemeanor possession of marijuana.  Ms. Clayborne was also cited but officers allowed the mother to leave with the children, ages 7, 5, 3, 2 and a breast-feeding four-month-old.   When Clayborne arrived at the Coffee County Justice Center with her children to bail Mr. Williams out, she was met by police officers and DCS and all five of her children were taken away.  The children were kept in foster care for nearly two months before the parents won a legal battle to get them back. The citation against the mother was dropped.  The father pleaded guilty to a single misdemeanor possession charge.  Coffee County General Sessions Judge Greg Perry has banned sharing the unredacted video of the two-hour traffic stop with the public.  On October 9, 2023 Mr. Williams’ attorney filed a petition to lift Judge Perry’s ban saying it is a violation of his client’s constitutional right to free speech. The ban reportedly does not keep the public from requesting redacted footage of the stop.