Brandy Hamilton and Alexandria Randle were on their way home from the beach when they got pulled over in Brazoria County and a female officer searched their privates for marijuana. Now they are slapping the Texas Department of Public Safety with a lawsuit.
KVUE
The women were searched after an officer claimed to smell marijuana in their car.
Two women are suing the Texas DPS after getting body cavity searches during a traffic stop.
“The male officer, his words verbatim were, ‘We’re gonna get familiar with your womanly parts,’” Brandy Hamilton said.
That officer, Nathaniel Turner, claimed to smell marijuana in Hamilton and Alexandria Randle’s car when he pulled them over for speeding on Memorial Day 2012. He called a female trooper to search their genitalia for drugs on the side of Highway 288 in Brazoria County.
“You’re going to go up my private parts?” Hamilton said.
KVUE
Brandy Hamilton and Alexandria Randle have filed a lawsuit against Brazoria County for invasion of privacy after they were searched on the side of a highway on Memorial Day 2012.
“Yes, ma’am,” trooper Jennie Bui said matter-of-factly.
The entire stop was recorded on the state troopers’ dash camera, including Hamilton’s horrified face at the moment of insertion.
“She pretty much forced my legs open because I wouldn’t even open my legs,” Hamilton said.
KVUE
The stop was recorded on the state troopers’ dash camera.
The women were further disgusted that Bui, they say, did not even bother to change gloves between searches.
“We were just assaulted in the worst way possible,” Randle told local station KXAN. “We weren’t asked could we be touched. It was just done to us. I’m just embarrassed.”
Hamilton and Randle say that the searches happened in broad daylight in full view of three Brazoria County sheriff’s deputies. None disrupted the proceedings.
KXAN
The male officer was suspended and the female officer fired.
“These police officers are here to protect and serve,” said Hamilton. “They did not protect me at all. Not one of them, and it was three officers out there.”
Nothing was found on the women, reported KHOU.
The Department of Public Safety conducted an internal investigation into the case. The DPS said it does not permit any activity that violates DPS Policy or the U.S. and Texas Constitutions.
Turner was suspended June 10, and Bui was fired June 29.
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