Posted on 11/05/2013 12:52:27 PM PST by servo1969
When New Mexico police stopped a local driver for committing a minor moving violation, they decided to check whether he was carrying drugs in his anus.
So they procured a warrant, drove him to two different hospitals, forced him to endure eight medical procedures — including an invasive colonoscopy — and stuck him with the bill.
No drugs were found.
According to medical records, police reports and a federal lawsuit obtained by KOB-TV, police held Eckert until they were able to procure a warrant from a judge to search the man’s anal cavity. They then drove him to a nearby hospital and instructed doctors to examine his anus.
Doctors at Members Memorial Hospital refused to cooperate, however, telling officers that the search would be unethical.
Deming Police then took Eckert to Gila Regional Medical Center in Silver City. This time, Eckert wasn’t so lucky.
Medical officials stuck their fingers inside Eckert’s rectum, but found no drugs. An enema was next. When that didn’t produce the drugs, they gave Eckert two more. He was forced to defecate in front of the medical officials and police, but still, no drugs were found.
Eckert was then prepped for another operation. Doctors knocked him out and gave him a colonoscopy — an invasive medical procedure that involves sticking a tube up the patient’s rectum, anus, colon and intestine.
Before the ordeal was over, Eckert had suffered through eight medical procedures. He objected to each and every one.
Adding insult to injury, the hospital stuck Eckert with the bill, and has threatened to take him to court to pay it.
Adding further insult to injury, the warrant had expired by the time doctors performed the procedures, and the warrant only ever covered procedures in Luna County. Gila Regional is in Grant County.
Eckert has filed suit against the individual police officers who tormented him, the police department and the hospital.
“The thought that they could do this to a man in our country is terrifying,” said Shannon Kennedy, Eckert’s attorney, in a statement to KOB-TV. “This is something out of a science fiction film. Anal probing by government officials and public employees?”
The local news channel reached out to the Deming Police Chief Brandon Gigante, who referred questions about the incident to an attorney. However, he did maintain that his officers always follow proper protocol.
It sure will. It may also create another Defendant: The Hospital. They have a share in the liability here, so they're probably already on the list.
X-rays or not, it's rape.
They fail me as well. This guy is going to be rolling in the dough after he’s through with that city and hospital. What made these fools think they could get away with this?
I just went to http://www.demingheadlight.com/ The newspaper for Deming New Mexico. The front story is something about an art exhibit.
I couldn’t find this story mentioned anywhere. Seems like the editor doesn’t want to get probed.
The worst part is that he wasn’t even under arrest!
Link sent to Drudge
When did this happen and what were the residents charged with?
The judge and cops will never be held civilly or criminally responsible..
They will all be allowed to continue to have power over the unsuspecting public...
What a nightmare for those who happen to come into contact with these people...
He should sue. I hope he wins and the police should go to jail.
They actually did that.
The other frosting on the cake was that the search warrant was only valid in the county in which it was issued.
The only hospital in that county refused to do all that crap due to what was termed an "ethical violation", so the po-po took him 80 miles into the next county, where all of that was done.
Took him about 10 minutes to find a civil rights attorney. I hope he winds up owning both counties.
According to the local news, they did that before the 3 enemas and the colonoscopy.
I couldn’t find this story mentioned anywhere.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
“The incident began January 2, 2013 after David Eckert finished shopping at the Wal-Mart in Deming.”
http://www.kob.com/article/stories/S3209305.shtml#.UnkNLZS9LCQ
No.
“...would all this have been OK if they had found drugs?”
Actually, no.
The second you step out of your vehicle, you're under arrest. They just don't have to tell you that.
Following proper protocol!? For where, Lubyanka prison?
Sheesh.
5.56mm
” (Twelve guys in armor. Machine guns and an armored vehicle. I guess I’m lucky they didn’t drive the armored car into the house.)”
We citizens must be allowed to be equally armed with any weapons the government is willing to use against us.
Anything less renders the 2nd Amendment completely useless.
Screw that. If the cops took me to some hospital for an anal cavity search or colonoscopy, I would just immediately begin faking some extreme distress, panic attack, trouble breathing, etc. The hospital is legally bound to deal with that emergency first before they can even begin to comply with the police.
By that time, I would be long gone from the hospital as soon as I was left in the emergency room unattended.
According to the article, the guy was asked to step out of the vehicle. And when he did, officers noted that he appeared to be clenching his butt cheeks.
Freaking unbelievable. And the judge who signed off on the warrant in the first place should be horsewhipped.
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