A nice preliminary analysis of the law involved here: A Preliminary Legal Analysis of Eckert v. City of Deming, the "Clenched Buttocks" Case - The Volokh ConspiracyThe Volokh Conspiracy
Worth reading in full if you’re curious about the legal side.
On the factual side, this is notable:
That writer makes a valid point up until he calls it a ‘drug-sniffing’ dog as the occupational status of the dog seems to be somewhat in doubt.
Is there any source of independent information about the dog? That seems like a highly-relevant factor (to the legal analysis, not the wholesale fuckedupedness of this situation).
ETA: here’s what US News said: “KOB-TV reports that a K-9 dog named “Leo” incorrectly alerted police to the existence of drugs in each of the men’s vehicles. The station reports that Leo’s drug-sniffing certification expired in April 2011.”
It’s somewhere up above in the thread, someone(s) linked to an article about the dog.
Is the doctor qualified to understand and evaluate the search warrant? Or does the hospital have its counsel on call to review such warrants as they arise (even if in the middle of the night?)? I wonder what the hospital’s procedure is for such cases.
That is unfortunate as my guess is that it means that it’s going to be settled out of court and probably with a confidentiality clause. So we’ll never know how it ended.
Too late to edit, but the doubts about the dog are referred to in posts 15, 52 and 54.
Thanks. It looks like the dog was certified at some point and lost that certification. The question for qualified immunity and good faith exception purposes would be whether the officers knew this.
Thanks. I note the article is from 2003 so it is a bit late to ask for confirmation but, here’s the thing, I have heard this (about China) many times in the news. every time I have tried to get some kind of confirmation from the reporter as to the source and I have never gotten a response. Never. I have a very strong feeling that it is one of those things they feel they can safely put in there because “everybody knows it’s true”. I have never been able to get a positive confirmation and until I do I remain skeptical. The fee is not for the bullet (which has already been spent) it is for the recovery of the body. Maybe there is a fee of some sort to get the body and they call it a “bullet fee” in slang. Whatever they call it it is not for the bullet and it would be minimal if it were.
Still, I can’t help but note from the article the prevalence of the death penalty in China which I find apalling as I am very opposed to it as barbaric.
It was pointed out in the MPSIMS thread on this case that the facts have only come out now because it’s now a matter of public record - I.e., it’s gone to trial. The poor anally-probed guy didn’t go to the press before because he didn’t want to be the butt of everyone’s jokes.
Even now, his lawyer has made only factual statements about the case, and the plaintiff is silent. Doesn’t sound like a glory-hound to me. The dog, on the other hand…
Don’t get it. “Alerted them to the side of his car” simply does not parse in any way I can make sense of. There were already at the side of his car, yes? And are all K-9s drug sniffers? Did the dog accompany them to the car when they first “interviewed” him? Would that be taken to imply they already intended a drug search, or the dog needed to pee on something.
Offered without comment.
Health insurance companies will not pay for “forensic exams”, which would be any procedure done as part of a criminal investigation instead of being medically necessary to treat the patients. Awhile back there was a scandal when some police departments (including Wasilla, AK) submitted bills for rape exams to the victim’s insurance company instead of paying them (naturally the insurers declined leaving the victim with the bill). The only possibly way I can imagine an insurance company paying for something like this would be if the hospital called them beforehand, gave them all of the facts, and the CSR massively fucked up.
I wonder if there’s some kind of “deal” going on between these cops and this hospital?
I once asked in GQ if there were every any circumstances whereby the police could get a warrant for a semen sample (inspired by an SVU ep); the consensus was no because there’s no reason why they’d ever need semen as opposed to blood.
True, and this being the US even if everything happened exactly as the Plaintiff said it did it’s hard to imagine any of these rapists even being criminally charged let alone convicted.
That’s what I was thinking. I don’t expect anyone from the legal department to be on site in the middle of the night, but surely they could’ve called someone to come in or faxed them a copy of the warrant.
In general, how much subconscious influence does the handler have on the police dog? So if the handler wants to find a positive result on a suspect, does the police dog make a false report more often? Have there been studies of such things? (Let me know if the question doesn’t make sense. But I’m thinking of something like that horse that appeared to be able to count, but was actually responding to subconscious cues from his handler.)
And after fully reading the article on Clever Hans, I see that this effect was seen in police dogs.
I don’t imagine BOGO works here.
I wonder, too. Could the procedure be, “If no legal counsel is available, we will assume the warrant is valid without question and proceed.”?
How long would it take for the word to get out that you can have a prisoner fucked up without a valid warrant as long as you do it after 10PM?
I haven’t read this whole thread yet, so forgive me (or Pit me) if this has been mentioned already . . .
Has anybody noticed that these forced body cavity searches for drugs, on flimsy pretexts, have become commonplace? There was an earlier similar incident in the same county, initiated by the same officers. There are similar reports from other jurisdictions, even in other states. There are reports of body cavity searches being done roadside, on-the-scene :eek:
Article I just saw: Police turn routine traffic stops into cavity searches
ETA:
We’re extremely white–that’s right–
We walk with our buttocks extremely tight
(Jim Belushi’s “White Guy Rap” from Saturday Night Live)
So, when the cops turned on their christmas tree lights, this guy grabbed his drugs, opened up his trousers, rose up enough in the seat to render his butt accessible, and then crammed the stuff up his Nixon? And then he pulled over. OK. Got it.
Or wait, no, he had it up his butt the whole time. He says “Well, going over to Fred’s house, get high, better ram the dope up my ass, because I get stopped every time I drive out for a six pack.”
Two bits says he dissed them, and they just wanted him to know just how hard they could fuck him.
On one of the TV station websites, I found a copy of the actual complaint. According to it, “Defendant Chavez [one of the police officers] claims to have noticed Plaintiff’s ‘posture to be erect and he kept his legs together.’” It seems to amount to good posture being suspicious in and of itself.