Regular readers know that I’ve been following the seemingly endless violent, sadistic Taser incidents involving law enforcement. Below is something equally heinous — the disgusting strip search of a woman by police in Stark County, Ohio. (Raw Story):
Hope Steffey’s night started with a call to police for help. It ended with her face down, naked, and sobbing on a jail cell floor. Now, the sheriff’s deputies from Stark County, Ohio who allegedly used excessive force during a strip search 15 months ago face a federal lawsuit, and recently released video won’t help their case.According to the policy of the sheriff’s office, strip searches conducted must be with officers of the same sex as the person arrested. In Steffey’s case, both men and women ripped her pants down.
Steffey’s ordeal with the Stark County sheriff’s deputies began after her cousin called 9-1-1 claiming Steffey had been assaulted by another one of their cousins. When a Stark County police officer arrived, he asked to see Steffey’s driver’s license. But instead of handing over her own ID, she mistakenly turned over her dead sister’s license, which she contends she keeps in her wallet as a memento. That’s when the situation became complicated.Hat tip to The Dark Wraith, who said:…Eventually, Steffey was arrested and taken to the Stark County Jail, charged with disorderly conduct and resisting arrest. But once in custody, her attorney says seven jail workers, male and female, forcibly removed Steffey of all her clothes, including her undergarments, while she lay face down in handcuffs. Local news footage shows Steffey wailing, asking “What are you doing?!?”
“And you have to ask yourself, what was the purpose of the strip search?” said Steffey’s lawyer. “What was the necessity of it? This was a disorderly conduct claim.”
The lawsuit says that Steffey remained in the cell for six hours and wrapped herself in toilet paper to stay warm. During that time, she was not allowed to use a phone or seek medical assistance for injuries she accrued that night, including a cracked tooth, bulging disc, and bruises.
When you’re finished watching the video of the strip search, go ask your favorite candidate of “hope” and “change” and all those other lies just exactly what he or she is going to do to end this rising nightmare of an authoritarian state.No, seriously. Don’t find some reason why your choice for Heir to Empire is not responsible. He or she is. They all want to lead this country? Then let them explain precisely how they plan to lead it away from this mess.
Ask those Democrats and Republicans running for office when enough will be enough. Ask them when they plan to stop spewing their sweet little nothings. Ask them if they will vow to their very God or perhaps even to that piece of paper we call the Constitution of the United States of America to take upon themselves the enormous task of putting every monster of this spreading blackness of sovereign violence—from George W. Bush and Dick V. Cheney all the way down to the very last, badge-wearing jackboot on the beat—into prison to rot.
100 Responses to “This is your police state - woman violently strip searched”
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Is this a bad time to say something about chickens coming home to roost?
Would it really be editorializing on a case to point out that maybe disorderly conduct and resisting arrest are not grounds for strip search?
Sort of like “resisting arrest” alone is not grounds for arresting or tasing someone?
People would say that this report was critical of the police department. Clearly, it wasn’t critical enough. I’m sick of news outlets being apologists for police brutality. This sort of behavior has happened and will continue to happen unless the media stops trying to make excuses for it and call it what it is.
I am sick of the rape and abuse of women. It is the Epidemic That Has No Name. I have not heard a single presidential candidate utter the word ‘rape’. When is attention going to be paid? What happened to this woman is unthinkable. May these ‘police officers’ and others like them lose their livelihoods forever and, one day, burn in hell.
The Stark County police crew was also the employer of Bobby Cutts…’nuff said.
I would love it if a larger pattern of corruption in the department were exposed through this.
There was a big scandal about this sort of thing in Illinois about 20 years ago. Suburban Chicago departments were hauling in women for traffic violations—traffic violations!—and routinely strip-searching them, because, of course, you never know when someone who made an illegal left turn might have a nuclrear weapon hidden in her vagina.
Finally, a federal lawsuit put the kibosh on that. I hope these cops get smacked good and hard.
Steffey’s ordeal with the Stark County sheriff’s deputies began after her cousin called 911 claiming Steffey had been assaulted by another one of their cousins.
If I were a reporter, I would very interested in who the alleged assailant was, what happened to him/her, and what ties he/she may have to the police department.
This whole thing stinks of “putting the uppity bitch in her place” to me.
Dorothy. Exactly.
Especially since it was someone else who called on her behalf. Almost as if she knew better than to call the police for help, but the other person didn’t.
Then there’s this from the Raw Story article Pam linked to:
So if it wasn’t a “strip search” then what exactly was it? Do police officers get to take women’s clothes off as part of other police procedures???
Abuse of authority has very serious ramifications. If that woman’s cousin is violent again with her, or she experiences violence from anyone, she’s going to be much less likely to call the police for help. When you can’t rely on cops to provide protection because you don’t trust them anymore, you’re either going to take the law into your own hands - which could have deadly consequences if this woman is a gun (or taser) owner - or you’re going to let yourself be victimized. That women took part in the strip-search-that’s-not-a-strip-search disturbs me even more.
Which, considering the caller and the attacker were both cousins of hers, also brings up the question of whether or not the “false ID” issue was not just blown out of proportion, but completely made up. If the cousin who hurt her has connections to the police, there’s good reason to believe that at least one of the police knew that she carried her sister’s ID.
At least its on videotape - time was when police did these things, they didn’t videotape it for their own protection against citizen lawsuits or because of legal requirements. Then the arrested prayed that at least one of all the cops participating would crack either in shame or under examination during trial in order to get justice.
The Blue Wall is weakened, but still there.
The U.S. has been speeding faster and more headlong toward the abyss of totalitarianism. Things like this go on, and only a few express outrage. The rest of the populace go on about their business. The government listens to all of our cell phone calls. And the people don’t rise up? Civil rights are like your teeth, ignore them, and they’ll go away.
O_O
So, as a reader sitting here behind my keyboard, is there anything that I, personally, can do about this sort of thing?
“At least its on videotape - time was when police did these things, they didn’t videotape it for their own protection against citizen lawsuits or because of legal requirements.”
I wonder when a rash of unexplainable (and convenient) videotape erasings will start occurring. In that regard, the Cheney/Bush administration has set a fine example…
Why? Their presence may have been the only thing preventing a full-on gang rape.
Doug S., write letters, call your candidates and representatives. Call or write or appear at your city council and express your concerns over Taser abuse and other police abuses like this.
That’s the best thing you can do. It may just be one voice but you can make it heard.
I hate the police.
idiosynchronic puts her finger on it: the blue wall. Personally, I get so sick and goddamned tired of cops bleating about “bad apples” and “don’t tar good officers” and so forth when those so-called good officers are either doing this sort of thing and believing that they have done nothing wrong, or covering up for the others when it is clear that wrong has been done. What’s that line from The Big Easy? “Face it. You’re not one of the good guys any more.”
BTW, According to Wiki, Cutts was a Canton PD officer, not Stark County Sheriff’s Department.
I’m sure cookie will show up and explain to us dumb citizens exactly why what the cops did was correct and necessary, etc.
I’m also sure that if he’d been one of the arresting officers, he’d probably get some good taser action in there somehow too…
EVERYTHING cops do needs to be videotaped.
This makes me sick to my stomach.
What would have happened if she weren’t a middle-class, married white woman? I don’t even want to guess.
What would have happened if she weren’t a middle-class, married white woman? I don’t even want to guess.
My guess? The person of color would have been Tased to “subdue” them for good measure, and perhaps died. And then the tape would have been “lost” or “mistakenly erased.”
What would have happened to her if she weren’t a middle class, married white woman? Nothing, of course. We know it’s not legal to rape women in this country right now. Why, it’s a rarely reported crime, which means it hardly ever happens.
Let’s just get over the pretense that rape is illegal, okay? It’s legal. The pretense is causing women harm and giving them false hope that they’ll actually get a conviction if they get raped. http://blog.mlive.com/citpat/2008/02/acquitted_brown_is_glad_it_is.html
That wasn’t a strip search, it was a sexual assault. Videotape is no guarantee that these assholes will be convictd. How many rape tapes have there been the past couple of years, and how many convictions have there been?
The consensus wherever I’ve seen this discussed is that, based on what facts we have from the article, her clothes were taken away because she gave an ambiguous response to a question about whether she had ever contemplated harming herself. (Her answer: “Now or ever?” Apparently in Stark County that translates to, “Yes, I’m suicidal.”) The police then forcibly stripped her to prevent her from using her clothes to commit suicide.
Regardless of the reason, that video was horrifying to watch.
Where did the tape come from? Who was holding the camera and who was in possession of the tape?
When my ex-boyfriend viciously attacked me and broke my cell phone I had eventually started aggressively fighting back- he ended up calling the cops saying that i was “going all psycho on him.”
I was fearful that I was going to be detained and charged (or worse) even though he had broken my pinkie and knocked the wind out of me.
I was afraid what happened to this woman would happen to me. Luckily, it didn’t- the cops were actually pretty cool.
That woman wasn’t just stripped. She was also left in that cell naked; she finally covered herself with toilet paper. When she was taken to arraignment, she was only given a bulletproof vest to wear. We’re seriously worried about the terrorists, when this is what we do to each other?
This is what happens when women aren’t believed or respected. She wasn’t believed, the officers used their faulty judgement on her, and this is what happened. These are the people we’re supposed to turn to when boyfriends and husbands turn abusive.
Ginmar - did you mean if she were a middle-class, married white woman? Because I agree with you there. (Even if she were a single, middle-class white woman this wouldn’t have happened. The important keywords being “middle-class” and “white.”) The reason nothing is done about police brutality is that those who suffer from it are almost always poor and/or people of color.
Middle-class, college-educated whites have the attitude of “This won’t ever happen to ME, or to anyone I know, so who cares?” If mandatory minimum sentences, police brutality, and so on, affected affluent whites, we’d hear a LOT more squawking and potentially there would be reform.
Boston Globe subheadline greeting me this morning: Boston Police routinely allowed their own men under investigation for domestic violence to keep on carrying weapons
I thought she was middle class and white, frankly. But, yeah, we all know that this doesn’t happen to WOC or anything, and that it doesn’t have an effect on their ability to report crimes.
Does anybody know what the racial breakdown was on the strip searches that the Chicago PD used to conduct on women?
Obama has a good record on dealing with the rights of arrestees during his time in the Illinois legislature. That’s the thing that finally tipped me decisively in favor of him.
I have a friend who called the police because his wife, who was quite drunk, was trying to drive away in her car (they were having some significant marital problems and had just had a nasty argument). When the police arrived, she stated he had assaulted her, althouth he hadn’t. Even though she had no marks other than a broken acrylic nail (from when he had taken the car keys out of the ignition and she had tried to stop him), they cuffed and arrested him. Despite the fact that HE called, SHE was intoxicated, and there were NO signs of violence, he spent the night in jail, where he was subject to almost constant verbal harassment and intimidation, (but certainly nothing like what this woman was subjected to). Although no charges were ever filed, he now has a domestic violence arrest on his record for the rest of his life.
Don’t call the police.
When it comes to cops, this story has stayed with me ever since reading it (and it happened very near where I live…these might be the cops coming to MY house if I were to call):
http://www.ocweekly.com/news/news/hey-da-interview-these-guys/24316/
oh my god…
I never did trust cops. I wasn’t taught NOT to, I’ve just always has an innate distrust, and, sadly, a fear of them.
I’m having a hard time wrapping my mind around this.
The fingermen will do take what they want.
Sorry, Dr. Shrinker, I’m going to be the obligatory skeptic here about your story about a ‘friend.’ In fact, the cops are usually eager to believe the man. In further fact, they are often wife beaters themselves. So, no.
I mentioned on Feministing that another article mentions a similar incident happening in the same county. Three young teenage girls (14-16) were given a tour of the “Attention Center” (as it says in the article. Maybe it should have been detention center?) as part of their sentence for a trespassing charge. During the tour, while their parents waited in another room, they were strip searched and harassed by guards. Young teens! I can’t imagine what that did to those poor girls. It was taped, but the tapes are apparently missing or not turned over.
There’s a clear pattern here, and they are looking into whether other girls have been subjected to this during the “tour.”
This is nothing less than sexual assault, IMO.
I can’t speak for Dr. Shrinker’s case, ginmar, but we can’t let the fact that the majority of “domestics” are male-on-female violence blind us to the fact that they can happen the other way around, or that people of either gender will lie to the cops. It may not happen often, but it happens.
That’s a leap. Did you read something in another article indicating that? Sexually dehumanizing and exposing a woman, and then leaving her naked in a cell without medical care is seriously fucked up misogyny, but it’s not RAPE. Not to disregard the abuse she suffered, because it was really sick, but rape is a violation an order of magnitude beyond what happened to this woman, so let’s not take this discussion there. My point was in reference to the department policy on strip searches which the article mentions. That any female officers would participate in this, instead of refusing to comply with a clearly violative strip search disturbs me, because there’s an immediate reaction I would think any woman should/would have to see another woman treated this way, no less participate in it herself.
Crazy link, bellatrys. So basically there’s collusion between the officers’ union and the BPD Chief to prevent real restrictions from being placed on officers’ access to weapons or ensuring they get counseling. Very scary.
Depending on what the law requires in Ohio’s federal appellate jurisdiction — and I can’t imagine it’s wildly different than what’s required in New York’s, which is what I’m familiar with — this whole thing, in particular the pattern of searches, is going to result in one very ugly lawsuit against the city and county.
I did civil-rights litigation for a couple of years, including a lot of time spent on cases involving strip-search procedures. And basically, the only time that a strip search was ever allowable on someone who hadn’t been convicted was if they were being charged with a violent offense, or if there were particular circumstances that made the officer reasonably believe the person was carrying weapons or contraband. And it had to be done in private, by an officer of the same sex, etc. Usually, the officer would conduct a pat-down through the clothes and then have the person remove his or own clothes under supervision.
Oddly enough, the worst abuses I’ve heard/read of during my research (which, granted, is a few years old by now) have been in small-town departments. When big-city departments violate the rules, it *tends* to be systematic (like when thousands of people were strip-searched illegally in NYC because the city corrections department had taken over management of Manhattan and Queens Central Booking to get more cops on the street, and corrections brought all their policies with them from Rikers Island). But when some sheriff or small department violates those rules, it tends to involve a lot of anger and be retaliatory.
Oh, and that bit about the suicide question being justification for leaving her naked in her cell? Utter bullshit. Shackle her if you think she’s an immediate threat to herself, or keep her under observation, but take away her friggin’ clothes?
Deep6, what you’re missing is just how they dehumanized this woman. Rape is the end result of that process. It’s not like cops haven’t raped women before, either.
Seeker, I’ve heard too many ‘friend of a friend’ horror stories about how men get screwed by those evil feminist-infected cops. We’re discussing a woman getting sexually assaulted by cops. Dr. Shrinker chooses to interject a “But what about the men?!” change of subject.
Oh noes, a white woman goes to jail and isn’t given pearls to clutch! I don’t know the backstory on this and I am inclined to give police a lot more leeway than the general public. I’ve dealt with officers for years and most are pretty good blokes.
Before I judge the poice as doing wrong, I want to hear more. This reminds me of a comely young lass that had contracted a disease and all and sundry felt her fiance was a beast as he refused to be around her. Most assumed it was his prudish intolerance. The backstory was that she had sex with 500 men in three months. Once you knew that salient fact, his response was understandable.
The thing that bothers me is that I do know people in law enforcement. They’re my friends, and they’re the sort of people that I would absolutely trust to not do this sort of shit.
Assholes exist in every shape and size, and some of them wear a uniform. It doesn’t mean that everyone who wears a uniform is an asshole. But the stakes are so much higher when the asshole is in a uniform (and has a badge and a gun and a blue wall of silence to protect him) than just random asshole on the street.
“Before I judge the poice as doing wrong, I want to hear more.”
“…and she had an AK47 in her snatch! Swear to god! We HAD to strip just to make sure she wasn’t hiding a rocket launcher or something! And she kinda looked middle-eastern too…”
Mold, you gave it a shot but it’s just not the same without cookie. He’s got the fascist cop thing down cold…
He probably hasn’t been commenting because he’s at waterboarding training or something…
Mold: In other words, it’s obviously some stupid slutwhorebitch’s word against perfect, godly father-figures. Why, we’re idiots for thinking that maybe father-figures might be wrong! Oh woe is us, for we must now willingly accept our due whippings!
At the psychiatric hospital they don’t rip your damn clothes off for being suicidal, so there is absolutely no goddamn reason for the police to do the same. Use riot cuffs; call Mobile Crisis. Simple procedure.
Suicidal, my ass. Shit like this is why the Center for Mental Health Law has to keep reminding people that you’re more likely to end up in jail for any crime, no matter how minor, if you are, or are perceived to be, mentally ill. Because that’s where you belong - locked up!
ugh.
My mistake - Steffey IS white, though her social class is ambiguous; I doubt the police would have dared to treat someone from a posh suburb that way. At any rate, I hope she wins her lawsuit and takes ‘em to the cleaners.
Don’t say whipping. He might get excited.
Mold, I don’t know what the fuck that STD story had to do with what we’re actually discussing, but as a general rule, you might want to avoid analogies where the moral is “turned out she was a slut!” around here.
Topic. I think watching the video will be triggery for me, but I am shaking with rage just reading about it. I appreciate your advice, Caroline - not sure if it will accomplish anything, but making a little noise is better than being outraged quietly.
The point wasn’t sluttiness. It was that there was more to the story. His behavior didn’t make sense until you learned of what she “forgot to mention”. Once you knew, it made sense.
We are looking at a video, taken to show that the police worked within procedure. We have a blurb from a newspaper. We have the statement of a person whose truthfulness is not proven. Forgive me, but I recall the McMartin preschool panic. I won’t bandwagon until I have more.
Mold’s story was yet another “women suck, pay attention to me” sort of post. He’s also pretty confident he’ll never be on the wrong end of a Taser.
Well, maybe we should give the cops the benefit of the doubt, when they say it wasn’t a strip SEARCH. The rules may say that only female officers can conduct strip searches on women, but I bet there aren’t any rules prohibiting men from being involved when you’re just stripping the person. I mean, they didn’t appear to be actually searching her, did they? So they didn’t break any rules, see?
/snark
Mold may not be an asshole in real life, but s/he sure does play one on the internet.
I am so utterly confused as to how the SURVIVOR of an assault ended up the one in police custody. Seriously, this is so terrifying - not only was she assaulted by someone in her family, but she was subsequently assaulted by those who are *supposed* to protect her. I just can’t make any sense of how she ended up arrested in the first place.
Also, Deep6, I don’t think its unreasonable to compare what happened to her with being raped - in the video her husband recounts that she made that comparison. I can imagine that she could have even thought that’s what was coming next.
Well, Canton is (the largest) subdivision of the Stark County law enforcement system and is the county seat, so I’d think they are pretty closely interconnected; it’s worth noting in Cutts’ case that he had prior (severe) disciplinary problems on and off the job and they had no issue reinstating him.
When I was growing up in Chicago, my mom had a friend that worked with her at the community theater. Her name was Jenny. She was pulled over for a routine traffic stop on the way to work one day. Jenny had some kind of disease(I was too young at the time to remember the name) that made bruises spontaneously break out all over her body and it got worse when she was under stress so she tried to take a pill while pulled over. The police officer drew his gun, dragged her out of her car, and arrested her, screaming all kinds of obscenities like “crackwhore”. Jenny disappeared for 3 days. No one knew what had happened to her. They even had her car towed and impounded. On the third day Jenny was finally allowed to call her parents. When they came to pick her up, they found out she hadn’t been allowed to take her medication for the whole period of time and that they had also been keeping her naked in the cell. While strip searching her, a male officer had come in and raped her with a nightstick while claiming he was “looking for contraband”. And the cops were never prosecuted for any of it. People were fired, tapes were lost, any roadblock that could’ve happened for the investigation did.
Look, the fact of the matter is that these cops have (or think they have) absolute power and absolute power corrupts absolutely. And its not all cops. But the temptation is always there for them to abuse their power. Its the ones who fight that temptation that are the good cops.
Deep6, what you’re missing is just how they dehumanized this woman. Rape is the end result of that process. It’s not like cops haven’t raped women before, either.
I’m not missing the dehumanization aspect at all. I specifically mentioned it in my previous response to AAKate.
The issue with assuming but for the existence of women during the strip search she may have been raped… is that it’s a hypothetical we don’t have any evidence for. If you can point me to a statement by the victim, the victim’s lawyer or any of the officers involved that rape was a perceived harm, then I’ll concede the point. Nothing in the Raw Story article alleges that, and I certainly don’t want to start talking about the “likeliness” of rape in this situation because it has occurred in other situations. What we have here is a definite case of prisoner abuse and intentional humiliation. What we do not have is a rape, or expected rape. What I object to is making that assumption or accusation without any evidence the victim thought that was going to happen to her, or without any claims that it did happen to her. False assumptions distract from the disturbing number of actual rapes and sexual violations of female prisoners while in custody and make those of us trying to protect women look like we like to falsely accuse men of rape.
SuzanneM, if they really thought she was suicidal (and “Now or ever?” is not ambiguous, it is a request for clarification), they should have taken her to the hospital, not strip-searched her and left her in the cell. That’s not the appropriate procedure for anything.
One of these days, we’re gonna hear about a woman who got a pink Taser for protection at a “taser party” and used it on an undercover cop she thought was threatening or going to assault her.
Oddly enough, the worst abuses I’ve heard/read of during my research (which, granted, is a few years old by now) have been in small-town departments.
Having grown up in a fairly small suburb, I’m not surprised at all. The smaller the town, the tighter the control the cops can have on it. After all, who are the townspeople going to complain to, especially if the judges live there, too? Try to get the state police interested? Bring in the FBI?
And as someone whose younger sister/ only sibling died unexpectedly a year ago, I can COMPLETELY understand how she would have her sister’s ID with her. Just to have something with her, that her sister touched, at all times- it’s all you have left. This poor woman…
If you can point me to a statement by the victim, the victim’s lawyer or any of the officers involved that rape was a perceived harm, then I’ll concede the point.
I’m sure the victim considered it very possible, and that the cops would deny that there was anything unprofessional about what they did.
If I were forcibly stripped by a group of men, I’d be thinking, “Oh, fuck, they’re going to rape me” even if they’re cops.
Hey, Mold, here’s a thought… why don’t you spin us one… just one of the doubtlessly infinite possible scenarios in which it’s just fine to end with seven–count ‘em, seven–deputies taking off all of her clothes and then leaving her in a cell like that? And then providing her with nothing but a protective vest for her arraignment?
What exactly is the chain of events that you’re envisioning here?
And the sheriff’s contention boils down to “Well, yeah, we’ve got policies regarding a strip search but since we didn’t actually search her, it’s okay.” That is just chilling. That is a horrifying example of somebody in power not understanding the rules that bind them and why.
What we do not have is a rape, or expected rape.Really? Because if I were in that woman’s position, with five female cops holding me down, while two male cops stripped all my clothing off, I’d probably think that I was about to be raped.
She was screaming and struggling. At no point in that video did ANY of those cops — male or female — reassure her or explain what they were doing. She was tackled and forcibly rendered naked, while being pretty brutally restrained.
If I were in her shoes, I’d be expecting a sexual assault.
And just because she was not penetrated doesn’t mean she wasn’t sexually assaulted. Wanna bet those cops copped a good feel or two while manhandling her around?
Those cops ought to get tagged with felony sexual assault. I’d love to see them have to register as sex offenders.
I hope she OWNS those fuckers. Every single one.
Her husband clearly stated in the news interview that she felt “raped without penetration.”
NB: Moderation –argh!
When you have torture legally sanctioned by the highest office in America, you should expect that local police will reflect that violence in their conduct towards citizens. Bush has instilled a climate of fear and distrust that will take generations to overcome. The brutal, state sanctioned violence that has historically plagued politically disenfranchised minorities has now expanded to include the average citizen. We are all targets of opportunity in our government’s War on Terror.
Sorry, been on the wrong end of a gun. Held by somebody without training or oversight. Very scary, afterwards. Tasers don’t worry me nearly as much. Far less dead.
This scene has the structure of “not enough information”. For all I know these woman was resisting arrest and shoved “something” in her nethers. This may also be police going well beyond policy/procedure into the realm of illegal. I really don’t know. That is why I am unwiling to jump on the bandwagon.
Whether women suck is another point. I will say that I have learned that all genders have malefactors.
I just googled. Her lawyer is reported on wkyc.com as saying “…there was no forcible penetration but Hope felt as if she was being raped”.
So I’ll concede the point. If she or the people speaking for her make that claim I have to respect her perception of the events. I still object to the assumption she likely would have been raped were it not for the female officers present. Being forcibly stripped is humiliating and clearly a sexual assault. It still is not, however, rape.
…Because even if she *had* “shoved ’something in her nethers” it would be something to be discovered by a FEMALE officer in a PRIVATE setting, Mold. That’s like saying “Well, you’re here for a pap-smear. But instead of having a single qualified health professional do it in a private setting, we’re going to do it in the waiting room, and let the receptionist help.”
If there were ever a case for vagina dentata…
Most police do a wonderful job being nice to the public that thinks paying taxes entitles them to treat officers like servants. Yes, I’ve seen it. However, I’ve also seen police use remarkable restraint. Whether at a traffic situation or a full-blown entry, they were all professional and courteous to folks I’d have dropped and cuffed. Now the gallows humor I discount as stress release.
This is just too skimpy for me to call. The video was done to protect the dept. You think anyone is going to tape a rape or assault? Rodney King was done by a private citizen.
I have the sneaky feeling that there is more to this tale than what she is telling us. Drugs? Erratic behavior? Too many times I’ve listened to a sleaze who just happened to leave things out.
Re: my post above — ginmar, I, too am skeptical of “innocent” guys railroaded by lying wimmens…except I know this guy well and I know he would never get physical with his wife. Plus, if he HAD, they wouldn’t have dropped the charges next day.
It was more about the incompetent, pig-headed cops who arrested an innocent guy and let a drunk woman drive home (in his car, btw). I thought of it because, like the victim in this story, he was the one who called the cops for help.
This is just too skimpy for me to call. The video was done to protect the dept. You think anyone is going to tape a rape or assault? Rodney King was done by a private citizen.
That’s why you make taping interviews standard practice. It protects the citizenry, makes the police act more professional, and ultimately protects them too.
The next time some citizen claims to have been beaten up and the police claim they fell downstairs, teh tape can be hauled out. And if the tape has mysteriously disappeared, the court and jury can take that into account.
Oh, what a shock: cops defending the actions of the cops in the video and blaming the victim. (Note the high-testosterone icons and sigs. “Teeny peen0r, I has it.”)
Oh, what a shock: cops defending the actions of the cops in the video. (Note the high-testosterone icons and sigs. “Teeny peen0r, I has it.”)
Most police do a wonderful job being nice to the public that thinks paying taxes entitles them to treat officers like servants.
Public servants I think you mean. And, yes, oddly enough that’s exactly how we’re entitled to treat them, because that’s what they are.
So I’ll concede the point. If she or the people speaking for her make that claim I have to respect her perception of the events.
I know you’ve conceded the point and I’m not actually arguing with your other point. But because this hasn’t been mentioned I wanted to add that according to one report, the two male officers were the last ones in the cell with her. I’m not implying anything happened, just that it would make things even more frightening for her as the female officers left.
That’s why you make taping interviews standard practice. It protects the citizenry, makes the police act more professional, and ultimately protects them too.
Yes, and this makes Dark Wraith’s comments about the ‘”hope” and “change”‘ candidate hard to understand, since that’s sort of a major accomplishment of Obama’s. I don’t know what kind of chances Steffey has of winning when she sues these cops but they’re surely better than they would be if this video didn’t exist. Were the cops required to make this tape?
Whenever something like this happens, there’s always some idiot yammering on about “both sides of the story” and “missing pieces” and whatnot. Interesting how they always tend to doubt the victim and never the cops, isn’t it?
And why is it so hard to understand that it doesn’t matter what the person had done? Everyone, even a criminal, deserves to be treated like a human being by public servants. Yes, even a criminal who is being arrested. They still have rights. So it really doesn’t matter what this woman had or hadn’t done. Maybe she did have something down her “nethers.” Maybe she should have been strip searched. But if the action was justified, it should have been performed to the letter of the law - female police officers only, etc. But this? This is unquestionably police brutality and nothing this woman might have done justifies what they did to her.
I’d love to hear what she could have “shoved in her nethers” that would result in them stripping but NOT SEARCHING (as this is the sheriff department’s defense) and then leaving her naked in the cell.
Actually, I wouldn’t love to hear it. If there’s something that small that’s so dangerous it warrants that kind of a response followed by some psychological torture just in case, I’d rather not know about it.
From what I understand, yes. There is tape of her being arrested at the house and there is also supposed to be tape of the car ride to the police station. The PD says that it doesn’t exist for whatever reason and so can’t release the tape to Steffey’s lawyer, but they are supposed to keep the tapes rolling in the car.
Also, here is the local news station that first reported it and then the follow up.
Just wanted to point out that Mold’s comments here have been extremely insensitive and triggering.
I want these officers punished for sexual assault. There is no excuse. I wish I could help this woman.
I never went through anything that awful, but I have had men hold me down when I *voluntarly* checked in to a pyschiatric hospital when my meds needed adjusting. I cried and screamed, even told them that it was giving me flashbacks of being raped, but they didn’t stop. So this story really resonated with me.
In my particular case, a female gaurd was able to help me.
Two other things:
First, this case seems distinct from other police brutality in that it was clearly sexualized. I think this specific incident emphasizes sexual violence against women more than issues like a police state, our torture policy, etc. It didn’t seem like she was targeted for political dissent, for example.
Also, these things (and worse) DO happen often to white women. Let’s not forget all of the white (and possible middle class) women who are also mentally ill, or sex workers, or visibly queer, or vulnerable/targeted in other ways, etc. I’ve seen plenty of it in the communities I’m part of.
I read that entire LEO thread, and everybody and their mother claimed that the cops probably did what they had to do to prevent a potentially suicidal woman from doing herself harm and doing the officers harm while they relieved her of clothing she refused to remove herself. However, someone there also said this: “If somebody is suicidal you get a smock and a suicide blanket and lay in a detox cell under suicide watch.”
This woman didn’t seem to receive any of that. She was left naked in a cell, alone, unrestrained, where she could have clawed her eyes out, chewed into her wrist enough to nick an artery, broken her own bones or bashed hr skull in against the wall, floor or door, stuffed wads of toilet paper up her nose and down her throat to suffocate herself, drowned herself in the toilet if there was enough water, and god knows what else.
Regardless of whether or not the woman was a danger or the cops were unnecessarily violent, nothing that happened in that video seemed like it actually would have protected her from self-harm, so what was the purpose behind that horrific debacle?
I’m fascinated by the way all threads about police brutality devolve as people rush to defend the cops. You really begin to see how totalitarian governments really can take shape. It’s no big secret that police work is attractive to petty bullies with power issues, and yet huge numbers of people will act like this isn’t true, no matter what the evidence is in front of them. Is it because they are also petty bullies who vicariously enjoy the abuse? Or are they moral cowards who stand behind bullies in hopes that will protect them? Whatever the exact formula is, it explains Giuliani’s stint at NY mayor.
Were the cops required to make this tape?
I’ve been wondering that, too. There were apparently supposed to be tapes of the teenage girls who were strip searched as well, so I’m wondering if they are required to tape quite a bit of what they do.
I was glad to read that the Sheriff in another county in the Cleveland area spoke out against this and focused on the fact that no forcible removal of clothing should involve officers of the opposite sex.
Even if you accept the supposed suicide scenario, I can’t believe people actually think that this is an appropriate way to treat someone who is suicidal!
I was struck by the similarities of this story, about an uppity American woman in Saudi Arabia, who was arrested, stripped, and humiliated by the religious police for working with male colleagues.
I give the police in Saudi Arabia credit for at least being honest about their motives. They intended to humiliate the woman for thinking she was the equal of men.
In the Hope Steffey case, note how gloves and cameras and a cool clinical atmosphere make it seem like the same sexual humiliation is somehow impersonal and professional. The similarities and differences both say a lot about our respective societies.
Are we ashamed yet?
Amanda, it’s not “people” rushing to defend the cops. It’s Mold unable to let go of the idea that if somebody in authority was mean to a woman, that must be OK.
There’s no other way to read him, because his argument boils down to:
1) Because most police officers take their duties to the public seriously, we must ignore the bad apples.
2) We must assume this was a legitimate strip-search, even though no actual search was undertaken and the woman was subsequently locked naked in her cell.
I mean, c’mon. He’s not even trying to argue that “you think women suck” isn’t true.
Amanda: When this phenomenon is observed in entertainment, it’s called the “Dying Like Animals” trope; the people in this case are, specifically, Jackals.
When it’s observed in reality, it’s called “treason”. Or just plain sad.
terrifying. it’s all been said.
the male cop is checking out her ass as she’s nude;pretty sly of him, just like he’s been trained to, long before any police training. bet they both jerked off later to the image. and she’s pretty, another reason, as if they needed any more, to treat a woman this way –tho they would do it to any wm, im sure the thrill is deeper knowing they can do it to an attractive one. had to said.im afraid of authority & always have been. i have a history of depression, wwill this happen to me, in the wrong place/time?
the police state is here. how do we turn it back with force and not have to wait ???
also: its torture & the threat of penetration is alway there—wtf do you think a person loses control & struggles so hard when the only protection from rape , incldg w/ objects, is when they try & take your pant/ie/s away??? so dont even try your bullshit defense–there is ALWAYS a THREAT.
and : these male cops esplly get overexcited–triggered like fucking animals–when a wm yells, screams, talks loud —they fucking lose it & this shit goes down. and this same revolting misogyny can be called the hiilary effect, where men bitch nonstop about her voice.
“…all threads about police brutality devolve as people rush to defend the cops.”
I think that this will always be the case on these threads, Amanda- until this or similar happens to a RL woman that the trolls actually CARE about, they will never believe that such horrendous abuses are possible and instead continue to maintain that “we don’t know the whole story”. Compassion doesn’t run too deeply in this sort of person, which is rather pathetic.
How about one of these
My basic premise is to have more data before I condemn. Remember McMartin? Felt the same about that, I did.
Diallou(sic) was criminal activity on the part of police. I will vote to convict any officer that crosses over into criminal. However, I have observed suspects doing many things to avoid the oh-so-obvious outcome. So, I want to see more than a person and their attorney telling me a tale. One really nice movie, “A Taxing Woman”, put it best when a character broke down and begged to be let go. Once the tax oficer left, his demeanor changed. Yes, I’ve seen it for meself.
As for videotape, Rodney King was doing some pretty goofy stuff before he was stopped. That’s why Simi Valley didn’t convict.
Another point is that we expect our police to react with measured and appropriate force. Was this strip necessary? Maybe. Maybe not. But I will not climb on the McMartin groupthink.
Speaking of police brutality had you all heard about that poor man they dumped out of a wheelchair? You can see the video on CNN here : http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/us/2008/02/12/deeson.fl.disabled.man.dumped.wtsp
Mold: This woman was accused of disorderly conduct at worst. Is a strip search appropriate for this?
A woman is snatched off the street and held down and stripped and humiliated, then left all night naked in a cell where men could see her. Nobody disputes that. You say you want to give the state (the police) the benefit of the doubt. I’m guessing you are an immigrant or a Republican.
In this country, the people get the benefit of the doubt. I’m sure you would agree that her treatment was punishing. You say you don’t want to judge the police until you see all the facts. Why don’t you assume that she was innocent, and that you won’t judge HER until you see the facts? Isn’t THAT supposed to be the default position in this country? According to you the people are guilty until proven innocent, and the police are innocent until proven guilty. Does this sound like protect and serve to you? You are no friend to the fair and honest police.
“…assume that she was innocent,”
WHAT? In America? Oh no no no…she was in custody- that PROVES she’s guilty of something!
“Oh no no no…she was in custody- that PROVES she’s guilty of something!”
…and since we already KNOW she’s guilty, there’s no need to waste time and money on a “trial”. Besides that’s pre-9/11 thinking…
Let’s get straight to the tasing and waterboarding.
If you don’t show these civilians who’s boss they’ll be running wild in the streets!…
All of the defending of cops for being such delightfully nice people would matter way, way more if the Blue Wall wasn’t a standard feature of cases like this. (Hell, if they hadn’t had taping requirements, it’s likely we’d have never heard about this in the first place.) I’ve had some contact with cops, and it’s all been very professional; I’ve had no reason to think that any of the officers I’ve met are tase-happy power junkies. But that’s just a smooth mixture of luck and privilege talking; I don’t really have any way to know that.
If more cops don’t want to be tarred as mindless cogs in our emergent authoritarian nightmare, perhaps they shouldn’t be complicit in the conspiracies of silence which lead to the mountain of abuses we’re now seeing the merest tip of.
I was glad to read that the Sheriff in another county in the Cleveland area spoke out against this and focused on the fact that no forcible removal of clothing should involve officers of the opposite sex.
That was Gerald McFaul, Cuyahoga County’s sheriff (Cleveland and Cuyahoga County are pretty much the same thing, as Cleveland takes up most of it…). He’s a Dem and I think up for re-election this cycle…
If this poor woman was actually taken before the judge wearing nothing more than a vest, I have to wonder what the hell is wrong with that judge! You would think he would have been outraged.
I think every single person involved with the judicial system in that county should be under investigation, from the judge down to the perverted bystanders video taping this horrible event. Most jail cells have a video camera in them and I’m pretty certain they kept her naked so they could watch her from the comfort of the video monitor at the front desk. ‘To protect and serve’ - yeah, right!
It has been said that police have more in common with criminals than with the average citizen. The only real difference is that cops are usually not concerned with having to take responsibility for their illegal actions.
Joel Balducci in Boston is one example.
I live in the UK and quite frankly viewing this clip has sent shivers down my spine. I find it hard to believe this was actually genuine police Officers conducting this ???? I’m not really quite sure how one would exactly describe what happened in that cell. I must admit at first glance it could easily have been confused as a small group of people enthusiastically filming some cheap porno movie. I’ve been trying to piece together what really would have been their motivation for stripping this poor woman completely stark naked. Surely one could only accept such actions being justifiably ‘for her own protection, had they in fact let her keep her lower underwear on, leaving her with perhaps a small amount of dignity, and quite frankly male officers being present in the cell at the time was bad enough but actually taking part in this strip, would only force peoples imaginations to run completely wild. The whole complexity of this incident is hard to understand, surely they had to be aware their actions were being filmed. I also fail to understand how the Sheriff is genuinely able to justify their actions. Once the lawsuit gets into full swing this particular scandal could escalate and cause disastrous consequences for the Police Dept’s relations with the general public, but having said that, it so happens these days that every now and again when the public is protesting over some police issues or the like, very often the general contention is that these things so very simply get brushed under the carpet so to speak and we never get to hear any more about them. I’ve read some other comments on this site suggesting sexual motivation, but to me it doesn’t seem very likely because of the sheer number of male and female officers involved at the time. With respect, may I say, to holiday in beautiful America has always been very high on my agenda, but please forgive me now when I say that, should this particular Police Dept get away with their treatment of this poor innocent woman, then to be quite honest, it’s fair to say that frankly I’d worry less if my family holidays ended up elsewhere, perhaps a place where Police Officers behave a little more dignified and just a little more peaceful. I apologise if anyone’s offended by any of my comments but I feel these words need to be said, and I’m sorry this piece is so long it probably comes across more like an article than just my comments. Finally in conclusion, I am of course fully aware that in general the Police are a decent bunch and do one heck of a job, putting their lives at risk every day and so on, and naturally I’m sure no one would argue that they are a courageous lot and it’s quite unjust and unfair that this will have to reflect on so many. But clearly this really is scary stuff, no matter what the outcome, it’s still going to continue to be a worry and concern for a whole lot of people.
Ron Beal
UK