CENTRAL FALLS — Central Falls soccer players accused of stealing items from a locker room after a game in Coventry and the American Civil Liberties Union have asked the appellate court to reconsider the decision that a police search of the students’ belongings was reasonable.

The 13 students filed the appeal in November. On Tuesday, the ACLU filed a brief supporting the former students, urging the court to reverse the ruling.

“We think this raises an extremely important question about student rights,” said Steven Brown, executive director of the Rhode Island affiliate of the ACLU. “Without a clear and strong decision from the First Circuit, students are subject to intrusive searches at any time by police so long as they can get permission from the school official to authorize it. We don’t believe that’s what the Fourth Amendment allows. It amounts to a significant invasion of privacy.”

On Sept. 28, 2006, Coventry police searched the Central Falls High School boys soccer team after the Coventry football team accused them of stealing cell phones and iPods from the locker room.

Central Falls coach Bobby Marchand searched the boys’ things and found nothing. The boys were lined up with their bags outside of the bus and their bags were searched by the police while the crowd pelted them with derogatory comments. No stolen items were found.

In April 2008, the students filed a lawsuit against the town, asserting that their right to due process and equal protection under the law were violated. They also said that they were submitted to an unreasonable search, invasion of privacy and were the victims of racial profiling.

In his ruling, U.S. District Judge William E. Smith said he was dismayed and disappointed by the officers’ lack of professional judgment and the appalling actions of the crowd. But, he said, the officers were protected by qualified immunity.

The students, some of whom have gone on to college, appealed the decision, claiming that the court, among other things, didn’t take into account that the coach did not have the authority to submit the students to a search, and that the search was fueled by race. The Central Falls students are Hispanic; Coventry is predominantly white.

The ACLU asserts in its brief that a 1985 U.S. Supreme Court ruling requires school officials to have reasonable suspicion before searching a student’s belongings.

tbuford@projo.com