• Quick note - the problem with Youtube videos not embedding on the forum appears to have been fixed, thanks to ZiprHead. If you do still see problems let me know.

Cops cavity-search women stopped for littering

Checkmite

Skepticifimisticalationist
Checkmite
Joined
Jun 7, 2002
Messages
29,007
Location
Gulf Coast
According to the Dallas Morning News, these women (a driver and her passenger) were stopped when an officer spotted them throwing some trash out of their car - which is perfectly okay in my book. However,

They claim that a female trooper, Kelley Helleson, used her fingers to search their anuses and vaginas — using the same latex glove — while on the side of the road in full view of passing vehicles.

They said David Farrell, a state trooper, had called Helleson to the scene after stopping the women’s vehicle and questioning them about marijuana. Farrell told them he stopped them after seeing them throw cigarette butts out of the window, according to the lawsuit.

He asked for the search because he said the women were “acting weird,” the suit said.

Farrell searched their vehicle for marijuana but didn’t find any, they said. He then tried to “morph this situation into a DWI investigation,” the lawsuit said. Angel Dobbs passed a roadside sobriety test and the women were given warnings for littering, the suit said.
Click to expand...

OK; now, we're talking about on the side of the open road - while cars go by - illuminated by the police car's spotlights - a state trooper gave the two women a cavity search, evidently using the same glove to search all the orifices.

Frankly it sounds more like the beginning of a cheesy porn flick and it's difficult to believe anything like this really happened. But, sure enough there's dashcam footage of the entire incident.
 
Are police in Dallas actually trained? I can't see any sort of spin which will excuse this.
 
Ok... what... the... frack? I can't wait to hear the trooper's rationale behind this one.
 
Assuming it happened as claimed. I myself find it hard to believe this would be done by any trooper with functional brain cells, which leads me to suspect there may be more to the story. I have no idea what more there could be, but I am curious to see all the evidence. As I understand it, right now we have what the women stopped claim happened, and nothing else.

That being said, if this is an accurate (or even mostly accurate) account of what happened, I hope the troopers involved are fired, and possibly charged. I can't see how those actions wouldn't be consdiered criminal.
 
I saw a bit of this on the morning news and there is dashcam video of the searches. I only saw a bit of it and I'm not positive that it will show what is claimed, but at least we know there is some evidence.

Obviously, the dashcam will do little to clear up where the cops hand goes once it is down the persons pants, but isn't that reason to not search in this manner?
 
lionking said:
Are police in Dallas actually trained? I can't see any sort of spin which will excuse this.
Click to expand...

Police in the US have some difficulty with boundaries. I can tell you that, growing up in Dallas, there were some pretty horrific examples of police brutality that made the news. I imagine there was a lot more examples that never saw the light of day, were buried by the press, or buried by the coroner. Living in LA county later, I saw lots of examples of police misconduct in the news there (you may recall a guy by the name of Rodney King). Portland Oregon has a pretty ****** up police force as well.

So really, in every city I've ever lived in for any length of time I saw examples of police behaving in the most unprofessional, thuggish and violent manner, more worthy of a criminal gang than a law enforcement organization.
 
Checkmite said:
According to the Dallas Morning News, these women (a driver and her passenger) were stopped when an officer spotted them throwing some trash out of their car - which is perfectly okay in my book. However,



OK; now, we're talking about on the side of the open road - while cars go by - illuminated by the police car's spotlights - a state trooper gave the two women a cavity search, evidently using the same glove to search all the orifices.

Frankly it sounds more like the beginning of a cheesy porn flick and it's difficult to believe anything like this really happened. But, sure enough there's dashcam footage of the entire incident.
Click to expand...

Joking aside, is his even the kind of thing they'd do outside a private room in a station?
 
Beerina said:
Joking aside, is his even the kind of thing they'd do outside a private room in a station?
Click to expand...

I suspect not, which is part of the reason it has me so confused.

The dashcam video (you can watch the entire thing at the link) clearly shows the officer working her hand down the back of each woman's pants, then turning the subjects around and working her hand down the front of each woman's pants, while wearing a rubber glove. I'm familiar with frisk searches through the outside of one's clothing; but I can't imagine a non-invasive procedural reason for an officer to be sticking his/her hand down someone's pants. I realize that some are saying "we just have the womens' word" that the officer searches their orifices - but someone, please explain to me what the legitimate, non-cavity-search alternative is - tell me what this officer was doing if not what these women described?
 
Checkmite said:
I suspect not, which is part of the reason it has me so confused.

The dashcam video (you can watch the entire thing at the link) clearly shows the officer working her hand down the back of each woman's pants, then turning the subjects around and working her hand down the front of each woman's pants, while wearing a rubber glove. I'm familiar with frisk searches through the outside of one's clothing; but I can't imagine a non-invasive procedural reason for an officer to be sticking his/her hand down someone's pants. I realize that some are saying "we just have the womens' word" that the officer searches their orifices - but someone, please explain to me what the legitimate, non-cavity-search alternative is - tell me what this officer was doing if not what these women described?
Click to expand...

That is not a cavity search in the usual sense of the word. No, remove your pants, drop, squat and cough.

Now putting her hands in the britches of the suspects in not SOP at all, and quite invasive. If she handled the anus and genitals of the suspects, I would assume that is a major law suit about to be won and the termination of some careers.
 
Last edited:
Sure looks suspicious, but we also don't have all the audio and video. I suppose if the women said something (even sarcastically) like "Oh right, sure, I'm hiding a gun in my underwear" or something, it might warrant that kind of action though.
 
If that was a cavity search, then I wonder if that cop has a sideline in closeup magic, or something. Those are some fast fingers.
 
shuttlt said:
If that was a cavity search, then I wonder if that cop has a sideline in closeup magic, or something. Those are some fast fingers.
Click to expand...

It's just as well. When a female cop cavity searches another woman, it's better to have two cameras, with one in front to catch the perp's facial expressions.

That's the way every video I've ever seen does it.
 
Last edited:
Beerina said:
It's just as well. When a female cop cavity searches another woman, it's better to have two cameras, with one in front to catch the perp's facial expressions.

That's the way every video I've ever seen does it.
Click to expand...
If that cop is as good as she looks you'd need a camera down below as well. One of those double frame rate ones Peter Jackson uses, otherwise she could have given her a bikini wax between frames.
 
Hellbound said:
Assuming it happened as claimed. I myself find it hard to believe this would be done by any trooper with functional brain cells, which leads me to suspect there may be more to the story. I have no idea what more there could be, but I am curious to see all the evidence. As I understand it, right now we have what the women stopped claim happened, and nothing else.

That being said, if this is an accurate (or even mostly accurate) account of what happened, I hope the troopers involved are fired, and possibly charged. I can't see how those actions wouldn't be consdiered criminal.
Click to expand...

The video form the dash-cam is pretty damning. While I can't rule out the possibility that there is more here than meets the eye, if I take that video at face value, the only reason for the invasive search was the first trooper's observation that he smelled marijuana in the car. Even if this is "probable cause" for an invasive body search (a mind-boggling idea in and of itself), to do this on the side of the road is simply inexcusable. Maybe there's more to the story, but I have a hard time imagining what there could be that would justify that. I hate to see the taxpayers of Dallas get stuck with the bill, but I think these women are in line for some serious money.
 
CORed said:
The video form the dash-cam is pretty damning. While I can't rule out the possibility that there is more here than meets the eye, if I take that video at face value, the only reason for the invasive search was the first trooper's observation that he smelled marijuana in the car. Even if this is "probable cause" for an invasive body search (a mind-boggling idea in and of itself), to do this on the side of the road is simply inexcusable. Maybe there's more to the story, but I have a hard time imagining what there could be that would justify that. I hate to see the taxpayers of Dallas get stuck with the bill, but I think these women are in line for some serious money.
Click to expand...
Yup. There's a reason the "pat down" exists and it's because society tends to frown upon both undressing in public and police officers shoving their hands down citizens' pants, unless there's something dangerous reasonably believed to be in there. While I acknowledge the power of the vagina, I don't consider it per se dangerous.

No, it's not truly a cavity search but it's gross, demeaning, and potentially traumatizing. I don't think the words "sexual assault" are out of line.
 
Babbylonian said:
Yup. There's a reason the "pat down" exists and it's because society tends to frown upon both undressing in public and police officers shoving their hands down citizens' pants, unless there's something dangerous reasonably believed to be in there. While I acknowledge the power of the vagina, I don't consider it per se dangerous.

No, it's not truly a cavity search but it's gross, demeaning, and potentially traumatizing. I don't think the words "sexual assault" are out of line.
Click to expand...

It appears to be a case of the "War on Drugs" gone wild. Seriously, do we really need to allow police officers to violate people this way, just so they can't get away with hiding a few grams of marijuana?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Back
Top Bottom