Police target SC woman’s Rolls Royce to search for ‘pills’ and illegal drugs, suit says.
.jpeg "An in-car video of an Horry County Police officer shows Crystal Langston’s vehicle being searched along Highway 378. Langston has filed a lawsuit against the county and police for illegally searching her vehicle and targeting her because she was driving an expensive car.")
An officer with the Horry County Police’s Street Crimes Team allegedly targeted a Myrtle Beach area woman as being a possible courier for drugs because she was driving an expensive car with tinted windows, according to a lawsuit.
Crystal Langston filed the lawsuit against Horry County and Horry County Police Department after she was pulled over by an officer on Sept. 10, 2024, while driving along Highway 378, the suit said.
Langston is claiming false arrest and imprisonment for the unlawful seizure, restraint, arrest and detention of herself and vehicle. The suit alleges that the Street Crimes Team targets certain high-priced vehicles in the hopes of getting drug seizures, which ultimately brings additional revenue to the county.
Horry County spokesperson Mikayla Moskov said by text that the county does not offer comment on pending litigation.
Langston and her family are owners of successful businesses in South Carolina, including Myrtle Beach, and also own an expensive home. This information was later relayed by a K-9 handler to other members of the Street Crimes Team, who showed up “almost immediately” after Langston was pulled over at 9 p.m. by Lance Cpl. Charles Kessler, the suit claims.
Kessler could be heard on his in car video as describing Langston’s vehicle as a “Bentley.” Other comments about Langston included describing her as “super rich old lady” with “pill-head vibes” and that she “would be the perfect courier.”
The vehicle is actually a Rolls Royce, according to her attorney Patrick McLaughlin with Wukela Law Firm. McLaughlin said he filed the suit on March 24, 2025, not only because of the search, but also in an effort to get body camera video, which has been denied by Horry County Police.
Langston was returning to her Myrtle Beach home after working at a family farm in Coward, the suit said.
Kessler was headed in the opposite direction along Highway 378 when he passes Langston. He makes a u-turn to catch up with Langston and initiates a traffic stop, according to in-car police video.
Officers use the K-9 to search Langston’s vehicle. Then officers continue the search “in an attempt to locate contraband that did not exist,” the suit said.
After nothing was found, Kessler issues Langston a traffic warning for having tinted windows of 6%, which was listed as the reason for his traffic stop, the suit said. However, video footage from the officer’s vehicle shows that it was difficult to tell the tint on Langston’s vehicle at night, according to the suit.
The suit claims that officers knew to conduct the traffic stop that they had to have a “reasonable suspicion supported by articulable facts that criminal activity ‘may be afoot’” in order for the traffic stop of Langston to be legal. If not, it would violate Langston’s Fourth Amendment rights.
The suit accuses Horry County Police Department’s Street Crimes Team of using such stops for alleged minor traffic laws, targeting certain vehicles, to interact with the drivers or passengers in the hopes of discovering criminal activity or contraband through searches.
The police department receives a portion of any monies or assets that are seized, the suit claims.
The suit is seeking damages, including destruction of Langston’s vehicle during the search.
