Police: I smell weed, pull down your pants

[AthenaAwakened]

On June 21, 2015, Charnesia Corley, a 21-year-old black woman from Houston, Texas, was pulled over by a Harris County Sheriff’s deputy after allegedly running a stop sign. The deputy claimed he smelled marijuana on Corley, and subsequently cuffed her and put her in the back of his patrol car while he searched her vehicle. Finding nothing, the deputy called a female officer to the scene to perform a vaginal search. Yes, a vaginal search. All because he suspected she had weed.

According to Corley, the female officer, upon her arrival, “tells me to pull my pants down, I said, ‘Ma’am, I don’t have any underwear on.’ She says, ‘Well, that doesn’t matter. Pull your pants down.’”

Cammack tells the Houston Chronicle that “Corley stood up and protested, so the deputy threw her to the ground and restrained her while another female was called in to assist. When backup arrived, each deputy held one of Corley’s legs apart to conduct the probe.” Corley was then arrested for resisting arrest and possession of marijuana. (Where the marijuana was found is not specified.)

The Harris County Sheriff’s Department claims that Corley consented to the roadside cavity search, referencing the officer’s notes where it says she told the deputy that he could “strip search her if I needed to.”

jezebel.com/cops-forcibly-search-womans-vagina-after-smelling-weed-1723207106

 

[Nice Squirrel]

That cop shouldn't be walking the beat if he can smell .02 ounces of weed hidden in a vagina. He needs to become a drug sniffing dog at the border.

Corely was charged with resisting arrest and possession of marijuana, both misdemeanors. Investigators reportedly said they found 0.02 ounces of marijuana on her.

The sheriff's office didn't return a call for comment from HuffPost on Monday. In an interview with KTRK News, sheriff's spokesman Thomas Gilleland said no marijuana was located during the search of Corley's vehicle. He added that a deputy wrote in the offense report that Corley consented to the search

 

[PyramidHead]

How does consent for a strip search work? If you give it, can you change your mind at the last minute? I would imagine so. Most kinds of consent can be withdrawn after the fact, and struggling to the point of needing restraint and forcible probing seems like a pretty obvious withdrawal of consent.

 

[Nice Squirrel]

Not only that, but what was the immediate probable cause that would warrant a search of her vagina? (I know, the common made up excuse that the officer smells pot.)

 

[ronburgundy]

This highlights why any act such as drug use and dealing that doesn't cause direct unwanted harm to another person or their property (which includes public property) should not be illegal.

All law enforcement requires acts of aggression sincere threat of force. Without it, a law is unenforceable (note the non-coincidental "force" at the heart of the word "enforce").

If we are not willing to accept use of force and invasion of privacy and person as a response to the action, then it should not be against the law.
If something is the law and officers are sworn to enforce it, then use of force is part of that and people feeling invaded but not actually physically harmed by use of force is the lowest level of impact that force can have. Outside of puritanical shame about our junk, the reason it feels so wrong that her vagina was inspected to find weed is because it is wrong to use even non-physically harmful force to prevent people from smoking weed, thus it is wrong for it not to be legal.

I think the drug legalization and general anti-police brutality agendas need to unite and push this argument that law = violence, thus making or keeping something illegal is promoting violence for that goal of keeping people from doing it.

 

[PyramidHead]

I'll just add an anecdote for what it's worth. I grew up in a bad neighborhood, and I have definitely watched a woman stuff something into her vagina to hide it from cops after being pulled over. The officer went back to his cruiser for whatever reason, and she just slipped it in while his back was turned. I don't know if that makes it a common thing to look out for, but my guess is that it happens. Doesn't excuse searching her cavity without consent though.

 

[ronburgundy]

I'll just add an anecdote for what it's worth. I grew up in a bad neighborhood, and I have definitely watched a woman stuff something into her vagina to hide it from cops after being pulled over. The officer went back to his cruiser for whatever reason, and she just slipped it in while his back was turned. I don't know if that makes it a common thing to look out for, but my guess is that it happens. Doesn't excuse searching her cavity without consent though.

If it was an illegal weapon or one she was suspected of using on someone, it would be excusable. Which shows it is not about searching or where they search, but why they are searching and for what. If it is for something that ought to be illegal, then they ought to be able to search there. If we don't think it warrants searching there, then it should not be illegal.

 

[PyramidHead]

I'll just add an anecdote for what it's worth. I grew up in a bad neighborhood, and I have definitely watched a woman stuff something into her vagina to hide it from cops after being pulled over. The officer went back to his cruiser for whatever reason, and she just slipped it in while his back was turned. I don't know if that makes it a common thing to look out for, but my guess is that it happens. Doesn't excuse searching her cavity without consent though.

If it was an illegal weapon or one she was suspected of using on someone, it would be excusable. Which shows it is not about searching or where they search, but why they are searching and for what. If it is for something that ought to be illegal, then they ought to be able to search there. If we don't think it warrants searching there, then it should not be illegal.

Is that true? If a cop has a hunch there is an illegal gun in my glovebox, doesn't he still need a warrant or my consent before he can reach in and rummage around?

 

[Horatio Parker]

No. He can do anything he likes.

It may not stand up to scrutiny, but at the scene, the cop can do anything. You can be arrested even for non-arrestable things.


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[AthenaAwakened]

No. He can do anything he likes.

It may not stand up to scrutiny, but at the scene, the cop can do anything. You can be arrested even for non-arrestable things.


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The police cannot do anything they like, at least not legally.

Otherwise then the response to that situation would be that the citizen can do anything s/he likes.

Here is a spot produced by the ACLU on what your rights are when stopped by the police

 

[laughing dog]

I'll just add an anecdote for what it's worth. I grew up in a bad neighborhood, and I have definitely watched a woman stuff something into her vagina to hide it from cops after being pulled over. The officer went back to his cruiser for whatever reason, and she just slipped it in while his back was turned. I don't know if that makes it a common thing to look out for, but my guess is that it happens. Doesn't excuse searching her cavity without consent though.

Especially out in public view. It isn't like they were looking for a nuclear device or other weapon. No one was in danger.

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

If it was an illegal weapon or one she was suspected of using on someone, it would be excusable. Which shows it is not about searching or where they search, but why they are searching and for what. If it is for something that ought to be illegal, then they ought to be able to search there. If we don't think it warrants searching there, then it should not be illegal.

Is that true? If a cop has a hunch there is an illegal gun in my glovebox, doesn't he still need a warrant or my consent before he can reach in and rummage around?

Not if he "smells a gun" in your car.

- - - Updated - - -

I'll just add an anecdote for what it's worth. I grew up in a bad neighborhood, and I have definitely watched a woman stuff something into her vagina to hide it from cops after being pulled over. The officer went back to his cruiser for whatever reason, and she just slipped it in while his back was turned. I don't know if that makes it a common thing to look out for, but my guess is that it happens. Doesn't excuse searching her cavity without consent though.

Especially out in public view. It isn't like they were looking for a nuclear device or other weapon. No one was in danger.

Yeah, just tell the terrorists how to kill us all. Develop a nuclear bomb small enough to ... well you know... make it smell like pot and we all die.

- - - Updated - - -

No. He can do anything he likes.

It may not stand up to scrutiny, but at the scene, the cop can do anything. You can be arrested even for non-arrestable things.


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The police cannot do anything they like, at least not legally.

Unless someone stops them, they kind of can. That is the trouble with something like. The type of search performed was grossly out of proportion for what was being searched for.

But unfortunately, your rights are whatever the police say they are. They may get sued and lose in the end, but that is well after your rights have been violated, or in this case, this woman's (I mean ghetto bangster thug) right to not be sexually assaulted by an officer over a joint.

 

[Horatio Parker]

No. He can do anything he likes.

It may not stand up to scrutiny, but at the scene, the cop can do anything. You can be arrested even for non-arrestable things.


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The police cannot do anything they like, at least not legally.

You don't have the right to refuse an illegal order or resist an illegal arrest.

Whatever nonsense a cop pulls during a traffic stop may not stand up in court, but the operative concept there is "in court". On the scene, you must obey all orders and you can be arrested even for non-arrestable actions. Doesn't make a great deal of sense, but that's the law.

 

[James Brown]

Can you insist on a warrant before a cop conducts a body cavity search on the side of the road?

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

You know what is the most ridiculous part of this. They called in two backups, the first to do the sexual abuse. The second to hold her down while they sexual abuse her. The man wasn't involved. So it was just woman to woman, so not a guy trying to have his way with her. That sort of rule was supposed to protect women from this sort of thing. Yet the female officers come in and seem to have no trouble trying to get what couldn't have amounted to more than $10 (?) of marijuana.

The police cannot do anything they like, at least not legally.

You don't have the right to refuse an illegal order or resist an illegal arrest.

Whatever nonsense a cop pulls during a traffic stop may not stand up in court, but the operative concept there is "in court". On the scene, you must obey all orders and you can be arrested even for non-arrestable actions. Doesn't make a great deal of sense, but that's the law.

And unless there is a body camera, there is no case to base your unlawful arrest on. And thanks to the LP's in this country, it'll continue to happen because the cops wouldn't do it unless it was necessary.

 

[Axulus]

Can you insist on a warrant before a cop conducts a body cavity search on the side of the road?

Yes

 

[Loren Pechtel]

I'll just add an anecdote for what it's worth. I grew up in a bad neighborhood, and I have definitely watched a woman stuff something into her vagina to hide it from cops after being pulled over. The officer went back to his cruiser for whatever reason, and she just slipped it in while his back was turned. I don't know if that makes it a common thing to look out for, but my guess is that it happens. Doesn't excuse searching her cavity without consent though.

The cops don't need consent for a search. It shouldn't be done at the roadside, though!