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CIVIL LIBERTIES

Women Sue Police Over 'Unconstitutional' Roadside Search

'Humiliating' search gets state trooper suspended

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by Mary Noble

Senior Editor t

Image: Dallas Morning News

This is just an all-out horrible story. Two Texas women are suing police for giving them both a roadside cavity search that they claim was unconstitutional. The state trooper involved has now been suspended.

A trooper stopped aunt and niece Angel and Ashley Dobbs after they threw a cigarette butt out of the window. He claimed he could smell weed in the car, and called a female trooper, Kelley Helleson, to perform a search. The women say that Helleson subjected them both to a "painful and humiliating" search of their vaginas and anuses without their consent. The search took place in full view of passing traffic, and Helleson allegedly failed to change latex gloves between searches.

The Dobbs women are now suing the Texas Department of Public Safety and the DPS chief, who they claim was aware of a "pattern of police misconduct involving unlawful strip searches, cavity searches and the like." Angel Dobbs says her aim is to prevent others suffering the same pain and indignity as her: "I was molested, I was violated, I was humiliated in front of other traffic. I had to watch my niece go through the same thing and I could not protect her."

Not surprisingly, the story is getting a lot of attention and is being heatedly discussed all over the 'net. Also not surprisingly, almost everyone is taking the women's side against the police.

The search was recorded on the trooper's dashboard-cam, and can be watched here (warning: graphic).

Via the New York Daily News and Reason.
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Is there any way this roadside search could be deemed constitutional?

Comments (view in Forum)

  • Calfkiller
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    I dunno i've been down that road before. Not the same situation but it's surprising how little respect you get from the legal system if your going up against the police. I'd say she'll get justice though if they really tried to do a cavity search. Sounds like sexual assault to me if the cop had no warrant or at least seriously probable cause. I don't trust the police.
  • Calfkiller
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    @Fishbone345 yeah that's disgusting. That only reinforces my deep felt belief that police do not respect full compliance. I don't tolerate being disrespected by knuckle dragging cops. They thrive on fear just like common streat thugs That literally makes me sick to my stomach, and I wasn't involved. I wouldn't have been smacking my gum i'd have been smacking something else. You oughta look up Policing for Profit in Tennessee. I wish they would do and article about that on here sometime. It's starting to get national attention. The cops have literally been confiscating peoples personal property without due process or even credible suspicion.
  • Fishbone345
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    @Calfkiller "The cops have literally been confiscating peoples personal property without due process or even credible suspicion."
    I believe it. Hell, we got NDAA 12, the Patriot Act and the TSA federally, no reason to think that sort of thing isn't beginning with the states as well.
  • Calfkiller
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    @Fishbone345 Oh if youre interested Google 'policing for profit in TN' should show you Officer Larry Bates of Monterey TN. He took 20,000 dollars off a guy from New Jersey that was headed west bound on I-40 headed to Nashville to buy a car he had bid on, on Ebay. They took the money for no reason as the man had proof he had been bidding on a car. The only reason EVER given was that 20 years prior he had been acquitted of a simple possession charge. Not a pre or judicial diversion, he was found not freaking guilty. That same cop came to my house with a guy (rumored to be a coke dealer, and indicted for the sale of cocaine 6 months later) and basically coerced me out of a 400 dollar set of used mud tires. My options were miss work which I had to be at in two hours or go to jail for receiving stolen property. Which was false as the person I bought the tires off of apparently owed 30.00 to the guy saying we had stolen them off of him. Bah!!! My pulse is going up. Look it up if your interested.

  • View all 11 replies >

  • u
    baumy
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    I would certainly hope not. What kind of people have we become? Now I have to fear if I leave my house a stranger is gonna stick his finger up my tail? Or if my daughter leaves the house to get some groceries some stranger might put her finger in her vagina? No one should have to live like this! NO ONE!!
  • Neo_NtheMatrix
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    Liberals ask me about the 2nd Amendment. I'd exercise my 2nd Amendment rights first before I'd let some grimy trifling police officer stick his fingers anywhere inside me or any member of my family.
  • PNWest
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    @Neo_NtheMatrix If you went all 2nd amendment on a Texas State Trooper however justified you might be they would probably have to use DNA to identify your remains after Texas law enforcement finished with you. This kind of thing isn't going to change until the people of Texas decide it has to change. And that ain't happening any time soon. In Texas you are guilty until proven innocent and even after being proven innocent you are probably guilty of something else.
  • Fishbone345
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    The average US citizen doesn't know as much as you do Neo, that they have certain rights. A lot of people get really intimidated by officers and will pretty much do as they are told. Sad fact of life.
  • Fishbone345
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    @Neo_NtheMatrix I feel bad for them too. That was a clear violation of the trust the public gives to sworn officers of the law. Those ones give a bad name to the good men and women in our service nationally.
  • Neo_NtheMatrix
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    @martydotcom - Okay I just watched the video. That female officer may have a future as a TSA agent after this.

    To be honest, watching someone throw a cigarette butt out the window is no excuse to search a person at all. Here in Michigan, a search of the car would be illegal, as long as the driver has a valid license and the car is registered and properly insured. No way would it be legal to stick fingers all in a person's crevices like that. That's the type of search that would be done on a suspected drug dealer, and even then the police would need a warrant and to do the search in the proper manner.

    Liberals ask me why I feel so strongly about my 2nd Amendment rights. This video is why. Authorities will walk all over you if you let them. That was the purpose of the 2nd Amendment.

  • View all 23 replies >

  • jessejaymes
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    Ought to be a couple of cops in the unemployment lines over this. And you can bet there will be a civil suit settlement. This is just unbelievable.
  • Keyjo
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    Well, I don't know. I haven't viewed the full video, but from what I saw on this link, it appears the female Trooper only searched inside the waistband and felt along the bra straps. I don't know anything about Texas law or if this violated any Federal laws. But the women were not detained, not ushered into some dark holding cell. It was done in public and in full view of the dash cam, and the male Trooper did call for a female Trooper to conduct the search.
    So I'll file this in the "Opinion Reserved" file until more details are known.
  • Keyjo
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    @Fishbone345
    Yeah, I tried to watch the full video, but the site I went to had taken it down. And I need to get ready for work. But I'll put my faith in the civil court system and the citizens of Texas.
  • u
    baumy
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    Open Reserved?????? Are you out of mind? They got fingers stuck up inside them on the side of a road for throwing a cig butt out the window. Love your hero's huh B. S.
  • Keyjo
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    @baumy
    Reserving an opion until more is known is not "out of mind." I don't automatically believe everything I read.

  • View all 6 replies >

  • kirbstomp1
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    Oh look more pigs. Overstepping their boundaries. I hope their sued for everything they got, if you infringe on peoples right to privacy, you should have everything taken from you. I feel bad for these women, something they will never forget.
  • stepped_in_it
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    Though I don't agree with the searches (and I was "searched" once 40 years ago) without a warrant, your alternative really sucks. Refusal of searches or DUI tests result in you being arrested (probable cause) and car towed and impounded while they get the warrant. Means you might spend the night in jail and you have to pay tow/impound fees for your rights. And, in the mean time, they "think" of additional charges to tack on while they wait for that warrant. Again, I don't agree with the searches without a warrant, but, your alternative really sucks.
  • kirbstomp1
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    @stepped_in_it - just because the law says they can do something doesn't mean it's 'constitutional'. And they have to get that warrant signed within a certain amount of time once pulled over. I also know my laws, I was asked to have my vehicle searched recently, whenever I got out of my truck I locked the door and threw my key in my pocket. stupid ass pig tried to go in my pocket and I told him multiple times 'am I being detained, if not im free to go'. He decided he was a Badass and gonna try to look tough before someone else arrived. He put me in cuffs and took the key out my pocket. He didn't know his laws to well. He also didn't know my Uncle was a major at the department, he was suspended and demoted.
  • kirbstomp1
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    @kirbstomp1 - the 2 cops that have arrested me have been fired or demoted due to my actions afterwards. which makes me think, if this has happened to me 2 out of 2 times, how many people don't fight their arrest and what happened then get screwed by the system. I refuse to be pushed around and bullied by someone with a badge. They are nothing more that government thugs that do good to keep the people on their side. Same reason hells angels have charity events.
  • bsking
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    well in light of the recent election... when a majority of women voted with their "female parts" perhaps the government just feels like they own those parts and gonna do what they want with them
  • DARSB
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    With comments like that I bet women are beating a path to your door. Armed with torches and pitchforks, of course, but looking for you nonetheless.
  • WilliamWallace
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    I would like to know the full story. The Trooper must have thought she was okay with the search because she positioned the women in front of the camera to do it.

    Then again is this not what you people want. You rage because people kill themselves in the back of a police car, yet when they are searched like this you rage again.
  • Denizen_Kate
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    "The Trooper must have thought she was okay with the search because she positioned the women in front of the camera to do it." Texas state troopers are not immune to stupidity.
  • u
    Libertyiskey
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    I've seen the full video, cops aren't always right. You can watch the full video too and you can see your making an assumption without seeing the evidence. The cop thought he smelt marijuana so he orders a strip search on these two women. You think anyone is going to be smuggling marijuana in their ass and its making the car smell? You think they have enough pot in their ass to be drug dealers? Watch the video before making the decision you did. They never asked the women if they could search them they just did it.
  • kirbstomp1
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    Mr. Wallace I hold you in high regard as a law enforcement officer yourself, but when you always try to defend cops, who are in the wrong it makes me question. Would you want your wife and niece searched like that? It's pot, seriously, you wanna make someone get naked over a plant that grows from the ground. This is overboard and I hope you do not defend them in any such fashion. I don't defend people for who they are but for their actions. Cops overuse and abuse the "it smells like pot."
  • WilliamWallace
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    @kirbstomp1 I am not going to Monday morning quarterback the incident for or against the officers. The first thing I said was "I would like to know the full story.". The rest of my statement was to the fact that usually when someone does something wrong they try to hide. She on the other hand did it in front of the camera.

  • View all 10 replies >

  • Denizen_Kate
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    No, this was unconstitutional and completely improper. If the trooper thought he smelled pot, he had the right to search their car, period. Calling in a female trooper and subjecting these women to roadside cavity searches was so far out of line that IMO both of these officers should be punished with, at the least, the loss of their jobs. This wasn't a legal search, it was a personal assault.
  • Denizen_Kate
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    @WilliamWallace - Not where I live it isn't. You cannot search my person, you cannot even search my handbag without probable cause or my permission, and claiming you smell something is not probable cause. You certainly cannot cavity search me by the side of the freakin' road.
  • RoyFloyd
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    Shocked that cops would tarnish the badge with a sick stunt like this, reacting in a manner all out of proportion to the alleged crime. WTF is the urgency that a cavity search must be performed roadside for someone that threw a cigarette out a window of a vehicle that purportedly smells like weed? You'd think they'd pulled over Hitler. On the other hand I'm pleasantly surprised that the dashboard cam rendered evidence for the what will hopefully be judgement against the thugs. Nearby video cams and cell phones have a way of getting turned off or smashed, evidence being lost, when cops decide to go rogue.
  • o
    Republican5001
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    Nothing unconstitutional in the search and the troopers had probable cause. The females also gave consent. End of discussion. Scares ms there are broads like this in the world but thanks for identifying them so my family can steer very very clear of them.
  • RoyFloyd
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    And after all was done, they were ticketed for...littering. You think a roadside cavity search is justified for such an infraction? Would you be singing a different tune if such happened to a woman in your family?
  • u
    Libertyiskey
    !
    Yeah horrible women smoking and throwing their cigarette butts out the window, I hope you steer clear of everyone who does such horrendous acts. They never gave consent they were never asked if they allowed the search the officer just did it... I'd like to see where you think they gave consent. They submitted but never gave consent, if they had not submitted they would have been thrown on the ground, handcuffed and then arrested for "resisting arrest" because they did not submit to the search of their anus and vagina because the officer "thought" he smelt marijuana, the most dangerous drug in the world, so dangerous you can fit enough in your anal sphincter and/or vaginal canal to compete against Mexican drug cartels so the only logical thing to do would be stick a finger up both anus and vagina to find this drug that causes people to die from using it everyday.
  • o
    Republican5001
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    @RoyFloyd actually I wouldn't. I expect my family members to obey the law, not dismiss it as, "oh it's just a butt" mentality. The officers acted professionally and did their jobs.
  • o
    Republican5001
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    @Libertyiskey well. you have to watch the unedited version. And they did give consent. If you watch the unedited version below, you will notice he says at 2:22 that he has a female trooper down the road and she will come down and check further and the female laughingly says ok. That is the consent. No civil rights violation occured.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch...
  • o
    Republican5001
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    @RoyFloyd And just so we are clear, I would expect the women folk of my family to comply with instructions of the authorities. You must be one of those question authority types.

    Don't call 911 when your house catches fire or when you are being robbed, you will only whine because they didn't protect you from yourself fast enough.

  • View all 41 replies >

  • Locutus
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    Sounds like the Patriot Act is doing a very good job violating our freedoms. It will only get worse if we let it. Unless we stand up for our rights, we will continue to lose them more and more for our protection (sarcasm). I hope they fire the cops involved and get a big settlement out of it. Another fine example of our law enforcement agents exceding the law for whatever reason they choose. They are there to set an example of good behavior, not use their position for their own wants or needs.
  • JustTheFacts
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    It may be unconstitutional ... but it's perfectly legal because the Supreme Court gave the police the right to perform strip & cavity searches on anyone after your arrested back in April of 2012!

    It's even worse in New York City with their "Stop & Frisk" program ... they don't even need probably cause before groping you. Now they have a "Clean Halls" program that allows them to roam the hallways of apartment buildings doing the same thing!

    ... and you thought the TSA was bad ... lol!
  • WMCOL
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    Troopers are wrong, wrong, wrong.

    Just the subjecting of these women to the unsantiary conditions of anal search and vagina search and then the same for the other woman using same gloves with the mixing of fecal matter with vagina of one and mixing it with the other woman's vagina and fecal matter is hideous.

    These women should be unrelenting in making sure these two officers are fired and they and the state of Texas should be held liable for damages in the amount of several millions of dollars. This kind of behavior by law-enforcement should NEVER be tolerated and should meet with swift and sure justice whenever it does.
  • wild_turkey6
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    I was going to mention the same thing. At the very least, this illustrates the lack of proper hygiene training when it comes to these searches.
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