Coatesville

The internal investigation concluded that the Coatesville police officers accused in a sex scandal should be fired. Instead, a lawsuit claims, the officers, all white, were promoted and went on to help foster a "hostile environment" for the handful of African Americans on the Chester County city's police force. One example of that environment, the suit alleges: a Confederate flag decal that a white sergeant has displayed on his auto license plate "with the knowledge of the police department.

It did not take long for Kristen Clement to get back into sync. It took only minutes, in fact. After sitting out her team's first five games because of a broken right wrist, Cardinal O'Hara's 5-foot-10 sophomore guard scored 17 points and dished out nine assists last night to lead O'Hara to a 73-51 rout of Coatesville. The losers are the reigning PIAA Class AAAA state champions and The Inquirer's top-ranked team in Southeastern Pennsylvania. Aja Anderson, Coateville's 5-8 junior guard, carried the offensive load for the Raiders, scoring a game-high 26 points.

A sign of things to come occurred on the game's first possession, when two St. Joseph's Prep players cornered a startled ball handler near the sideline and caused him to step out of bounds. The Prep's combination defense, which mixes man-to-man and zone principles, frustrated Coatesville to no end in Saturday's PIAA Class AAAA boys' basketball quarterfinal at William Tennent. Forcing 20 turnovers and getting 31 points from senior guard Steve Vasturia, the Hawks dismantled the way-out-of-sync Red Raiders, 67-43, and earned a spot in Tuesday's semifinals vs. two-time defending champ Chester.

The Coatesville Red Raiders were a half-hour late boarding the bus that was to take them to last night's PIAA Class AAAA second-round playoff game against Sun Valley at West Chester University. To make matters worse, Coatesville had just 10 minutes to meet before the game, and senior center Lonnie White was still suffering from the flu. Once the game began, things didn't get much better. But thanks to two free throws by sophomore forward Jim Thompson with 11 seconds remaining in the game, the Raiders held on to record a victory over feisty Sun Valley, 56-52.

Tyler Burke says he was not sure about Coatesville's chance at making major noise this season after the departure of three dynamic playmakers. "We lost a good amount of talent," the 6-foot-4, 240-pound junior said. "You expect there to a be little drop-off. You don't know what to expect. " It's clear now that the squad was able to overcome the graduation of quarterback Manny Stocker (now at North Carolina State), wide receiver Kyle Kerrick (Michigan State), and running back Dae-Hon Cheung (Delaware State)

The rambling Red Raiders of Coatesville - who traveled to York to open their season the previous week - had another long bus trip Friday night, to Northampton High near Allentown. Traveling through the remnants of the tropical storm that belted the area didn't make the hour-plus ride any more enjoyable. At least, though, the game had a positive result. Coatesville won, 34-13, a score that had been reached at halftime and remained unchanged through a second half played in steady rain.

Coatesville point guard and captain Joey Taylor didn't like what he saw when he looked at his teammates. "Some of the guys were getting an attitude and we weren't coming together as a team," Taylor said. So before Tuesday night's Ches-Mont opener at West Chester East, Taylor called a team meeting. "We met while the (junior varsity) game was on," Taylor explained. "Everyone talked and got things off their chest. We decided we had to go out and do it. " The Red Raiders did, knocking off the Vikings, 80-55, with a great blend of intensity and defense.

The Coatesville Police Department has had its share of internal conflicts in recent years, and now it is about to get a new boss who knows a thing or two about intra-departmental issues. Stephen T. Johnson, a 35-year veteran of the Philadelphia police force and the department's deputy commissioner of the Office of Personal Responsibility, was selected Tuesday night to head Coatesville's department, which has spent the last several months without a permanent chief. "I'm going to go into the situation assuming that officers are good, quality people.

The Coatesville Police Department has had its share of internal conflicts in recent years, and now it is about to get a new boss who knows a thing or two about intra-departmental issues. Stephen T. Johnson, a 35-year veteran of the Philadelphia police force and the department's deputy commissioner of the Office of Personal Responsibility, was selected Tuesday night to head Coatesville's department, which has spent the last several months without a permanent chief. "I'm going to go into the situation assuming that officers are good, quality people.

A sign of things to come occurred on the game's first possession, when two St. Joseph's Prep players cornered a startled ball handler near the sideline and caused him to step out of bounds. The Prep's combination defense, which mixes man-to-man and zone principles, frustrated Coatesville to no end in Saturday's PIAA Class AAAA boys' basketball quarterfinal at William Tennent. Forcing 20 turnovers and getting 31 points from senior guard Steve Vasturia, the Hawks dismantled the way-out-of-sync Red Raiders, 67-43, and earned a spot in Tuesday's semifinals vs. two-time defending champ Chester.