Worst Traffic Stop Ever

[DJ_KiDDvIcIOUs]

In what can only be described as the absolute the worst traffic stop in history, a New Mexico man says doctors repeatedly probed his anus and subjected him to multiple humiliating medical procedures all because police believed he may have been hiding narcotics up there.

As if that wasn't horrifying enough, after being probed, x-rayed, probed again, subjected to enemas, made to poop in front of police, sedated, and given a forced colonoscopy, the man must pay for everything that happened because the hospital sent him the bill for the "procedures."

A fair warning before we begin: this story is disgusting on several levels, not the least of which are the civil rights violations this man alleges in his federal lawsuit against the police and the doctors involved.

New Mexico TV station KOB4 has the scoop on David Eckert of Deming, New Mexico, who was stopped by police after they said he didn't come a complete stop at a stop sign while exiting a Wal-Mart.

When Eckert stepped out of his car, officers believed he was clenching his buttocks for some reason, KOB4 said. They took him to a local emergency room and ordered an anal cavity search after securing a warrant for one. Doctors there refused to do it because they believed it to be unethical.

But the doctors at Gila Regional Medical Center apparently had no such ethical qualms. According to medical records and lawsuit documents, Eckert was subjected to the following procedures over the next few hours:

1. Eckert's abdominal area was x-rayed; no narcotics were found.

2. Doctors then performed an exam of Eckert's anus with their fingers; no narcotics were found.

3. Doctors performed a second exam of Eckert's anus with their fingers; no narcotics were found.

4. Doctors penetrated Eckert's anus to insert an enema. Eckert was forced to defecate in front of doctors and police officers. Eckert watched as doctors searched his stool. No narcotics were found.

5. Doctors penetrated Eckert's anus to insert an enema a second time. Eckert was forced to defecate in front of doctors and police officers. Eckert watched as doctors searched his stool. No narcotics were found.

6. Doctors penetrated Eckert's anus to insert an enema a third time. Eckert was forced to defecate in front of doctors and police officers. Eckert watched as doctors searched his stool. No narcotics were found.

7. Doctors then x-rayed Eckert again; no narcotics were found.

8. Doctors prepared Eckert for surgery, sedated him, and then performed a colonoscopy where a scope with a camera was inserted into Eckert's anus, rectum, colon, and large intestines. No narcotics were found.

Throughout this ordeal, Eckert protested and never gave doctors at the Gila Regional Medical Center consent to perform any of these medical procedures.

Again, no narcotics were found. And as the TV station reports, there were several problems with the warrant, including the fact that it was not valid in the county where the searches were performed and that it expired three hours before the procedures began.

Eckert is now suing the City of Deming and three of its officers, three Hidalgo County sheriff's deputies, a deputy District Attorney, the Gila Regional Medical Center and two of its doctors.

With any luck he'll collect some money from them. He'll need it; the Gila Regional Medical Center sent him the bill for all of the procedures and is threatening to take him to collections if he doesn't pay it.

So let's recap: police abuse, insane penalties for drugs, civil rights violations, and expensive medical bills, all for allegedly not stopping all the way at a stop sign? And no actual drugs were found?

Great work on this one to all involved.

I hope this guy sues the pants off of all these jerks

 

[Alistair]

Wow. Just wow as that is right down the road from me. At the same time I wouldn't doubt it in the slightest.

 

[KevanG]

I know I'd be suing everyone involved, the PD, the individual officers, the hospital and the doctors.

 

[Marvolo]

I got no words for this.

 

[Ant-manic]

awk-ward!!!!!

 

[Teelie]

If this is even remotely close to accurate, he's got a solid case to sue all of them into the ground. They were already pushing credibility with the first search. Everything else past that is gross abuse of human, civil and ethical rights.

 

[JaD]

This is legit?

This is insane. Can't they use drug dogs or something to see if they smell drugs on him? I'd be suing every last one of those sonsabit**es if it were me.

 

[DJ_KiDDvIcIOUs]

What I can't figure out is how does one determine that someone is "clenching" their buttocks?

 

[Teelie]

In some cases it's obvious but most of the time I wouldn't know, I'm not usually looking for it either. Cops are trained but they definitely misjudged the situation then continued to do so repeatedly past the point of acceptability.

 

[Pink Ranger]

Looks like the cops gave this guy the bum's rush.

 

[JaD]

What I can't figure out is how does one determine that someone is "clenching" their buttocks?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BlFppmZwDkM

 

[Ant-manic]

What I can't figure out is how does one determine that someone is "clenching" their buttocks?

yeah, what if they just decided to do their kegel exercises; at that moment?

 

[Kane52630]

This was in New Mexico?

 

[Alistair]

Small update, if anyone cares.

Federal lawsuit claims anal probe was unethically conducted by NM police, doctors
Lordsburg man subjected to multiple invasive procedures
By James Staley

[email protected] @auguststaley on Twitter

POSTED: 11/05/2013 06:07:48 PM MST

LAS CRUCES >> Police officers illegally forced a Lordsburg man into an array of invasive medical procedures, performed by unethical doctors, because the officers suspected the man was hiding drugs in his anal cavity, according to a lawsuit filed in Las Cruces federal court.

In the suit, David Eckert says Deming police pulled him over Jan. 2 at a Walmart parking lot for failing to yield at a stop sign. By the time his encounter with the officers ended the next day, Eckert had endured three enemas, two anal probes and a colonoscopy -- and authorities found no drugs.

The lawsuit accuses law enforcement officers, a prosecutor and two doctors of violating his constitutional rights, as well as medical negligence, unfair practices, battery and false imprisonment. The suit does not specify a dollar figure Eckert is seeking, but asks for actual, compensatory and punitive damages plus attorney's fees and other related costs.

The story was first reported by Albuquerque TV station KOB.

The searching began, according to the suit, because one of the Deming police officers was suspicious of Eckert's posture as he stood outside his car, as though Eckert might be clenching his

buttocks.
That was relevant because Eckert has a reputation among area law enforcement officers for hiding drugs in his anal cavity, acknowledged prosecutor Daniel Dougherty, according to a response to the lawsuit filed by his attorney.

Eckert denies that claim. Lordsburg court records show a man, bearing Eckert's name, with several drug cases against him, some of which have been dismissed.

Hidalgo County sheriff's deputies responded to the Walmart traffic stop, bringing a drug-detection dog to inspect Eckert's car. The dog reportedly alerted deputies to the presence of drugs near the driver's seat in Eckert's car.

Authorities found no drugs, but took Eckert to the Deming police headquarters, according to the suit. There, the officers obtained a warrant to search Eckert's anal cavity.

Dougherty, a deputy district attorney in the 6th Judicial District, is named in the suit for his alleged role in approving a questionable search warrant. Dougherty denies approving the warrant Eckert claims allowed officers to search his anal cavity.

As the evening of Jan. 2 continued, Deming police officers then took Eckert to a nearby emergency room, where a doctor refused to conduct an anal cavity search, calling it "unethical," according to the suit.

After Dougherty advised the Deming police officers to take Eckert to another emergency room, they transported him to Gila Regional Medical Center in Silver City.

Eckert's attorney, Shannon L. Kennedy of Albuquerque, contends the warrant was invalid because it didn't specify which medical procedures could be used to search Eckert's body. Further, at least one of those procedures was performed outside the county and time frame dictated by the warrant.

But one of the physicians named in the suit, Dr. Robert Wilcox, said in court filings he "reasonably believed" the warrant to be valid.

At the Gila Regional Medical Center, medical personnel performed the six invasive procedures, plus two X-rays -- all without Eckert's consent, the lawsuit claims. Officials again found no drugs in Eckert's body.

During those procedures, the suit alleges, police officers mocked, harassed and berated Eckert. They also repeatedly misplaced the privacy curtain, exposing Eckert to a public hallway during "intimate and humiliating searches."

Aside from Dougherty and Wilcox, Eckert is suing the city of Deming; Deming police officers Bobby Orosco, Robert Chavez, FNU (first name unknown) Hernandez; Hidalgo County; Hidalgo County sheriff's deputies David Arredondo, Robert Rodriguez, Patrick Green; and Dr. Okay H. Odocha, MD.

The physicians, Dougherty and all defendants from Hidalgo County have filed responses in federal court, denying most of the allegations against them. Deming officials have yet to file their responses, but an official told KOB that the city does not comment on pending litigation, a common practice.

James Staley can be reached at 575-541-5476

http://www.lcsun-news.com/las_cruce...dsburg-n-m-mans-federal-lawsuit-claims-police

 

[DJ_KiDDvIcIOUs]

Ya it seems like he should win his case fairly easily, I'm willing to bet most of them settle out of court

 

[Schlosser85]

They gave him THREE enemas? What the hell does it take to convince them there weren't narcotics up there?

They're either the most stubborn cops on the face of the Earth or they were just being sadistic.

 

[DJ_KiDDvIcIOUs]

They gave him THREE enemas? What the hell does it take to convince them there weren't narcotics up there?

They're either the most stubborn cops on the face of the Earth or they were just being sadistic.

I like how the X-rays didn't convince them like he had some way to prevent the X-rays from showing them the inside of his body t:

 

[RetrogradeOrbit]

Perhaps the police and doctors thought he was lead lined or something...?

On a serious note, I hope this guy gets serious compensation for this outrage.

 

[DJ_KiDDvIcIOUs]

But just three months before Ekert's ordeal, nearly the exact same thing happen, in the same town, at the same hospital—even the Leo, the unlicensed K-9 dog, was involved.

On October 13, 2012, Timothy Young was stopped by police after he made a turn without using his signal. For reasons that aren't clear, old Leo the K-9 was called to the scene and, just like with Eckert, signaled to police officers that he detected the scent of drugs on Young's car seat. Young was arrested and taken to the same hospital as Eckert, where doctors x-rayed his abdomen and performed a manual anal probe. Again, no drugs were found.

Young has hired Shannon Kennedy, Eckert's attorney, and plans to sue Deming, Hidalgo County, and Gila Hospital.

"If the officers in Hidalgo County and the City of Deming are seeking warrants for anal cavity searches based on how they're standing and the warrant allows doctors at the Gila Hospital of Horrors to go in and do enemas and colonoscopies without consent, then anyone can be seized and that's why the public needs to know about this," Kennedy, told KOB 4.

Apparently these cops think people like to hide things in their butt. I'm pretty sure that's not how most criminals carry around their drugs these days. I think the people involved in this are going to be paying these gentleman a large sum of money

 

[KevanG]

Either the cops are anally fixated or that dog just isn't as well trained as they thought.

 

[DJ_KiDDvIcIOUs]

A provocative research paper published in January 2011 showed that, rather than being neutral, police detection dogs alert where their handlers think they should. This research is one of only a handful of scientific attempts to test the validity of law enforcement claims of reliable detection.

And KevanG wins all the internet points!!! YAY!! The crowd goes wild!!!!

 

[KevanG]

AW YEAH! Bring on da wimmins!

 

[Asgard]

Update to the story.

http://www.kob.com/article/stories/S3279375.shtml?cat=500#.UtblnrQX1by

Eckert won a settlement for 1.6 million dollars.

 

[Soapy]

I knew about this, but somehow missed the thread. This story is grade-A ammunition to use against anyone who opens their dumb trap long enough to say, "Bu-bu-but if you have nothing to hide then you've got nothing to worry about!"

 

[KevanG]

1.6 million should buy a lot of salve for his 'wounds'.

Good for him though. He deserves it after what he went through.