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Woman Who Called for Help Assaulted By Police; Police Suing TV Station that Exposed Them
The Cleveland Leader ^ | 2/19/09

Posted on 02/28/2009 6:34:06 AM PST by steve-b

Check out the video below, where WKYC investigative reporter Tom Meyer spoke with Greg Steffey, whose wife, Hope Steffey called 911 after she was assaulted by her cousin. Things took a turn for the worst when the police arrived and treated Hope as the perpetrator. She was arrested, taken to jail, and subjected to a humiliating full-body strip search by both male and female officers, violating the sheriff department's own policy that a strip search be conducted by an officer of the same sex. Hope was then left naked in a cell for six hours. Included in the news segment was video footage of the strip search....

(Excerpt) Read more at clevelandleader.com ...


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Government; US: Ohio
KEYWORDS: assault; cleveland; donutwatch; emergency911; femalecops; leo
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To: Paved Paradise

Again, I’m not saying she deserved the alleged mistreatment. I’m saying the news station was remiss in not fully reporting and/or investigating the story. Watch the tape. According to the husband (who wasn’t there), his wife was an innocent crime victim who was arrested by a confused deputy for no reason. The “reporter” did not ask one question. Was your wife drinking? Was she intoxicated? Did she verbally abuse the police? Did she resist the police? Take the Rodney King case. Most sane people agree, he didn’t deserve his beating. But, by the same token, the media at least reported he had been drinking, eluded police, verbally abused a female officer and resisted arrest. The reporter in this case didn’t ask one question.


141 posted on 02/28/2009 11:25:41 AM PST by Krankor (Vitajex, whatcha doin' to me.)
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To: monday

I’m saying that if you act crazy, drunk, violent and make statements that can be understood to mean you have the intent to hurt or kill yourself they will strip you and lock you up naked to make absolutely sure you lack any means other than your own teeth and fingernails that could possibly be used to hurt yourself.

Brought to you by the Trial Lawyer’s Association by sueing “deep pocket” taxpayers everytime some darwin nominee finally wins an award while in custody.

This lady will get a smallish shut up and go away award from the city’s liability insurance, the lawyer she hired will take a goodish chunk of it for very little actual effor.

If she had actually been serious and managed to kill herself because she had not been stripped, the TLA wouldn’t have taken a settlement, they’d go for a nice fat jury award for the family’s pain and suffering caused by the wrongful death of their beloved because the negligent officers didn’t strip her naked and deprive her of the bra he strangled herself with or the panties she choked herself to death with.

It isn’t just the cops who are out of control, it’s lawyers and judges and juries that have brought us to this sorry state of affairs.

Stripping the dumb twit naked was a sane response to an insane tort system. TAANSTAAFL


142 posted on 02/28/2009 11:26:06 AM PST by Valpal1 (Always be prepared to make that difference.)
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To: steve-b
And FReepers question why other FReepers consider many cops as utter trash who haven't the brains nor the humanity to sweep gutters.

What will it take for cops to clean up their own? Will it take direct action by citizens who decide they've had enough and start seeking revenge and all that entails on any cop they happen to come across? Some cops clearly aren't fit to live along side decent American citizens. These "deputies" are the sort who should consider changing their names and moving out of the country.

143 posted on 02/28/2009 11:33:03 AM PST by Thumper1960 (A modern so-called "Conservative" is a shadow of a wisp of a vertebrate human being.)
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To: Krankor

You’re fighting a losing battle because there is no question that could have been asked that can possibly support what the police did. I know you are making a point about the news story, but you must see that the point you are trying to make ends in an attempt to besmurch the victim of their crime.


144 posted on 02/28/2009 11:34:13 AM PST by ShandaLear (Where's My Stuff???!!!)
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To: Natural Law
The departments must contingent train for every possible, not just probable, scenario and develop a response or reaction plan that needs to be reviewed and approved by legal counsel.

LOL! More guaranteed income for lawyers. The city and the police department will still get sued, the lawyers will still get paid and we will still be stripping stupid/crazy/drunk people naked if they make statements of self harm. This is a sane response to an insane tort system.

But this woman will get paid by taxpayers for being a stupid obnoxious drunk. Wanna bet she blacked out and has no memory of the entire evening and was horrified to wake up naked in a holding cell? Wanna bet she denies ANY contributory responsibility for her predicament?

Insane tort culture + victimhood culture = thugocracy and you think the TLA has no share in it? You're a fool.

145 posted on 02/28/2009 11:39:11 AM PST by Valpal1 (Always be prepared to make that difference.)
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To: Valpal1

There is zero evidence — zero — that this woman was either drunk or stupid, as you assert.

I saw nothing from the text that refuted what the article said about her: she was the victim of an assault, and then the victim of a stupid twit of a cop that couldn’t tell the difference between perp and victim.

If you have any such evidence, produce it.

Otherwise, I think you are firmly establishing yourself as the bona fide fool.


146 posted on 02/28/2009 11:47:17 AM PST by Nervous Tick (Party? I don't have one anymore.)
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To: Natural Law
The solution is easy to conceptualize; higher eligibility standards (fewer dumbass, psychologically flawed cops)

From the "I swear I am not making this up" file:

Judge Rules That Police Can Bar High I.Q. Scores

A Federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit by a man who was barred from the New London police force because he scored too high on an intelligence test.

In a ruling made public on Tuesday, Judge Peter C. Dorsey of the United States District Court in New Haven agreed that the plaintiff, Robert Jordan, was denied an opportunity to interview for a police job because of his high test scores. But he said that that did not mean Mr. Jordan was a victim of discrimination.

Judge Dorsey ruled that Mr. Jordan was not denied equal protection because the city of New London applied the same standard to everyone: anyone who scored too high was rejected....


147 posted on 02/28/2009 11:52:57 AM PST by steve-b (Intelligent design is to evolutionary biology what socialism is to free-market economics.)
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To: Valpal1

I expect she will get a much larger award for being raped then she would have if she had managed to kill herself. In the one case the deputies did it to her, in the other she would have done it to herself. I expect this will be a jury trial and absolutely humongous award she wins.


148 posted on 02/28/2009 11:54:13 AM PST by monday
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To: Valpal1
"But this woman will get paid by taxpayers for being a stupid obnoxious drunk."

No, she will get paid by taxpayers because she encountered a herd of stupid obnoxious cops.

Do you realize that the US Supreme Court held in Bad Elk v. United States, 177 U.S. 529 that it was permissible (or at least defensible) to shoot an officer who displays a gun with intent to commit a warrantless arrest based on insufficient cause. It ruled that (police) officers who executed an arrest without proper warrant were themselves considered trespassers, and any trespassee had a right to violently resist (or even assault and batter) an officer to evade such arrest.

149 posted on 02/28/2009 12:10:10 PM PST by Natural Law
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To: Krankor
"I’m saying the news station was remiss in not fully reporting and/or investigating the story."

Where is there a requirement for any news organization to be required to present both sides of an argument? As long as the film was unedited the viewer can decide what other information might be warranted.

150 posted on 02/28/2009 12:13:57 PM PST by Natural Law
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To: Natural Law

Kids, don’t try this one at home as you would be dead and never ever get your day in court.


151 posted on 02/28/2009 12:25:32 PM PST by DariusBane (Even the Rocks shall cry out "Hobamma to the Highest")
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To: DariusBane
"Kids, don’t try this one at home as you would be dead and never ever get your day in court."

I didn't recommend this action, I only referenced it to show how far from the constitution today's law enforcement officers and agencies have strayed. There is little comfort in being found innocent posthumously.

152 posted on 02/28/2009 12:30:24 PM PST by Natural Law
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To: Natural Law
Where is there a requirement for any news organization to be required to present both sides of an argument? As long as the film was unedited the viewer can decide what other information might be warranted.

Well, we're not talking arguments here. We're not talking about editorializing. We're talking about reporting the news. According to you reasoning, as long as a TV station airs a video of, say, Barack Obamaa arguing his views on the stimulus, there's no need for that same station to air any opposing views. The viewers can simply look at the Obama video and decide for themselves. Huh? Double huh?
153 posted on 02/28/2009 12:32:22 PM PST by Krankor (Vitajex, whatcha doin' to me.)
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To: Natural Law

I understood where you were coming from, I was just reinforcing your point.


154 posted on 02/28/2009 1:25:12 PM PST by DariusBane (Even the Rocks shall cry out "Hobamma to the Highest")
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To: Krankor

Oy! Krankor, you must keep in mind that you are a disinterested observer. If you saw a tape of your own wife (mother, daughter, etc.) experiencing the identical treatment that was recorded on this tape, I guarantee you that your first instinct, and even your second, third, and fourth instincts, would not involve any kind of breakdown of questioning along the lines you bring up (was she drunk, did she mouth off, did she do this or that?) I’d be willing to bet the farm.


155 posted on 02/28/2009 2:08:27 PM PST by Paved Paradise
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To: nufsed

Which is why I posed it as a question, sir.


156 posted on 02/28/2009 2:11:37 PM PST by Paved Paradise
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To: Krankor

If not for the TV News channel breaking this story, this probably would have been swept under the rug. Biased or not, at least it gave an opportunity for an FBI investigation. Hopefully justice will be served.


157 posted on 02/28/2009 2:12:23 PM PST by Blue Highway
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To: ought-six
She has them dead in the water pursuant to 42 USC 1983. The City and its police department will NEVER let this lawsuit proceed to trial. They will be begging this woman to settle with them.

She should tell them to eat sand and get her day in court. Hopefully she gets a decent lawyer. Hope these creeps get prison time.

158 posted on 02/28/2009 2:14:03 PM PST by Blue Highway
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To: Nervous Tick
Still think the broad is innocent as the driven snow? Personally, I think she is now trying to cash in on the tort lotto. What will you say if the officers win their defamation lawsuit against the tv station?

http://www.the-review.com/news/article/4515802

On June 8, 2007, Steffey was tried and convicted by an Alliance Municipal Court jury of disorderly conduct and resisting arrest for events leading up to her arrest in October 2006.

During that criminal trial, evidence was produced that at the time of her arrest Steffey was under the influence of alcohol and medication and was not the victim of an assault.

Evidence showed that on that day, Steffey had assaulted her niece, who was six months pregnant, and that she had also attacked and choked her teenage nephew.

159 posted on 02/28/2009 2:17:07 PM PST by Valpal1 (Always be prepared to make that difference.)
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To: Nervous Tick; monday; Natural Law
Still think the broad is innocent as the driven snow? Personally, I think she is now trying to cash in on the tort lotto. What will you say if the officers win their defamation lawsuit against the tv station?

http://www.the-review.com/news/article/4515802

On June 8, 2007, Steffey was tried and convicted by an Alliance Municipal Court jury of disorderly conduct and resisting arrest for events leading up to her arrest in October 2006.

During that criminal trial, evidence was produced that at the time of her arrest Steffey was under the influence of alcohol and medication and was not the victim of an assault.

Evidence showed that on that day, Steffey had assaulted her niece, who was six months pregnant, and that she had also attacked and choked her teenage nephew.

160 posted on 02/28/2009 2:24:14 PM PST by Valpal1 (Always be prepared to make that difference.)
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