Update on Deming, NM Police Rapists

Just an absolutely horrifying story. Be sure to watch the video.

n the search warrant affidavit that sought permission for an anal cavity probe, one police officer said he asked Eckert for permission to physically search him after the minor traffic stop. When Eckert refused...

As suspected: He exercised his rights to decline the search.

And then what did the cops do? They raped him for 12 hours.

...the document says, a police K-9 dog alerted them to the side of his car. Kennedy alleges the dog is not certified to search for drugs and may actually be a pet.

That's the lawyer making this allegation, but given these cops' behavior, I'm not dismissing that out of hand.

A judge granted the search warrant for the anal cavity probe, but not necessarily a colonoscopy.

Which they did anyway. What the hell, why not? The warrant was bogus anyway.

Officers then transported Eckert to the Gila Regional Medical Center after an emergency room doctor at a Deming, N.M., hospital told them "this is unethical," Kennedy said. The doctor who refused to comply with police is willing to testify if the lawsuit goes to trial, according to Kennedy.

After arriving at the Gila facility, doctors examined Eckert's anal cavity twice with their fingers, put him through an x-ray scan and then inserted three rounds of enemas into his anus. After each enema, doctors examined the stool sample produced. Eckert was then given a second x-ray scan and forced to undergo a colonoscopy with anesthesia.

It's unclear why the colonoscopy was necessary after enemas and x-rays did not reveal hidden drugs. Eckert was sent a $6,000 bill for the medical procedures he involuntarily underwent, his lawyer says.

And then they gave him a bill.

The business with the warrant is pretty bad. Not only is absurd on the face of it to get a warrant for an anal probe based on "clenched buttocks," but the warrant was only good in the jurisdiction in which it was written. Because the cops could not get the doctor in that county to agree to their plan to rape the man, they had all this done in the next county over. Where the warrant had no force.

Well I'd say there's an American Citizen who now Understands Better than to Exercise His Rights when the Police Come Calling.

posted by Ace at 05:32 PM

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