Okay, I’m really going to have to do something about that one reader who keeps sending me links to disturbing stories. This one is gross….
Chris Sweeney writes:
Getting pulled over for rolling through a stop sign is whack. But getting pulled over, having a gun pointed in your face, and then being strip searched on the side of the road in front of your two children for rolling through a stop sign is, well, really whack and probably an excessive use of force.
At least. that’s what a new lawsuit in the Sunshine State is claiming.
[…]
When backup arrived, Tarantino was strip searched on the side of the road, where passing motorists could see everything.
Then, in a gruesome twist, a female officer “forcibly removed” a tampon from Tarantino. Presumably, the cops were looking for drugs, but the lawsuit notes that a drug-sniffing dog was never called in, and cops never found any contraband or anything illegal.
Read more about the case and view the complaint on Broward Palm Beach NewTimes.
I won’t comment on this as a complaint is unproven allegations and the blogger does not seem to have contacted the Citrus County sheriff’s office to ask for a comment or response to the allegations.
Update of Aug. 11: ABC obtained a statement from the Citrus County sheriff’s office:
“The Citrus County Sheriff’s Office wants to go on record as saying the allegations made in this lawsuit are not only ludicrous, but completely untrue. Yes, a traffic stop was conducted on July 17, 2011. The plaintiff was issued a criminal citation for violation of restrictions on her driver’s license. She also was issued a written warning for rolling through a stop sign.
No strip search was conducted, and the plaintiff’s tampon was never forcibly removed by any deputy.
It is the Sheriff’s Office intent to aggressively defend itself against these malicious allegations.
Tarantino has been arrested multiple times in the past for drug possession, driving under the influence and domestic battery.
Criminal defense attorney Scott Greenfield offers his own commentary on the case on Simple Justice.