Two troopers are facing criminal charges for a traffic stop that occurred last summer. The troopers’ dash cam caught the act on video—clearly showing a female trooper searching two women inside of their clothing. The trooper denies wrongdoing and the civilians have filed a lawsuit.
On Dec. 18, 2012, the Dallas Morning News reported that the a female state trooper was being sued in federal court for violating the rights of two women. The lawsuit states that the women were pulled over for littering (throwing cigarette butts out of the window), but that the male trooper who pulled them over thought they might be smoking marijuana.
After searching the vehicle and finding no evidence of drugs, the lawsuit alleges the trooper tried to “morph this situation into a DWI investigation,” administering a field sobriety test. The driver passed. Then, a female trooper was called in to search the two women.
The trooper used the same latex glove on both women, searching inside of their underwear and allegedly performing a cavity search on their vaginas and anuses. For her part, the trooper says, the search was consensual and involved no penetration.
The male trooper said he asked for the search because the women were “acting weird”.
Since the incident, the female trooper has been fired. She is now facing charges of sexual assault and her colleague is accused of theft, for stealing the legitimate prescription oxycodone that one of the women had on them.
The two women involved were family, an aunt and niece. Both were said to be traumatized from the event.
Since the indictment, an attorney for the trooper has spoken out, calling the allegations “completely bogus” and says his client passed a polygraph test regarding the incident. But, as we know, polygraphs are unreliable and inadmissible in court.
Stories like this seem to come out of left field. The women weren’t committing a serious criminal act—no one could successfully argue that “acting weird” and being a litterbug warrants a cavity search. And to have two troopers agree that this was an acceptable method of investigation is alarming, to put it mildly.
If you are facing criminal charges, it’s understandable that you don’t trust the police. After all, they are the ones who initiated your arrest. Contact our offices today to talk to someone on your side—to discuss your legal options and how we might be able to help.