Friday

Qualified Immunity for Butt Poking?

Ah, actually, according to the 11th Circuit, no.

As it turns out, despite what Denis Stephens, a former cop for the city of Zebulon, Ga. argued, the 11th Circuit finds that Strip-Search 'Abuse' is Not Protected:

"Declaring that 'abuse cannot be condoned,' the court has cleared the way for two black motorists to sue a white police officer who they say strip-searched them and poked their buttocks with a metal baton while peppering them with racial epithets and threats about prison rape."

Stephens took the pair to the Pike County jail, brought them into a back room and ordered them to remove their clothes, ostensibly to look for drugs. As he probed their buttocks with what has been described as a baton-like, "cold, black object," Stephens said, "Ya'll are going to get [raped]. ... I am going to send y'all up the road for a long time, boy," according to Jordan's testimony.

"Somebody is going to be [raping] you for the next 20 years," Stephens said, according to Evans' testimony.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

A cop from GA doing this? Shocking!