Roadside strip search by NJ state trooper in NJ draws protest and legal action

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

A body-cam video that shows a New Jersey state trooper conducting a roadside strip search has raised questions about how far law enforcement officers are permitted to go during a traffic stop.

Trooper Joseph Drew pulled a car over for tailgating and said he smelled marijuana. When a search of the car turned up nothing, he handcuffed the driver and told him to step out of the vehicle.

"You can tell me where it is right now or I can go in and get it," Drew says on the video.

The trooper is then seen pulling on blue latex gloves, reaching into the driver's underwear, and groping his genitals and buttocks while the two stand on Route 206 in Southampton, Burlington County. All the while, trucks and cars pass by on the busy highway.

The driver, a 23-year-old Toms River, N.J., man, insisted several times he had no marijuana and said he doubted such a search was legal.

No drugs were found in the man's car or on his body, and in the end he was issued a ticket for tailgating. The driver has filed notice of intention to sue, alleging that he was sexually assaulted and that his civil rights were violated.

-snip-

Experts in policing were critical of the trooper's actions.

Maria Haberfeld, a professor of policing and police ethics at John Jay College of Criminal Justice and an author of several books on the subject, said the search was unwarranted.

"To reach into someone's underwear, it has to be for a really good reason, not for marijuana," she said. "In the times when marijuana has been legalized in state after state, this is some kind of erratic police behavior – and it's very much about discretion, so even if you can do things, should you be doing them?"

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/roadside-strip-search-by-nj-state-trooper-in-nj-draws-protest-and-legal-action/ar-AAvDdYx?li=BBnb7Kz

[samnsara]

1. for pot?????

[DRoseDARs]

5. For pot.

And safe bet, DWB. Driving While Black. Identity not released by local media since this an alleged sexual assault.

[oberliner]

12. Wrong

He is a white guy. You can watch the video of the search.

[LanternWaste]

32. Almost as wrong as calling delusional ...

Almost as wrong as calling delusional those who thought Roy Moore would lose.

Since we're into telling people how wrong they are under the pretense of accuracy and all that....

[oberliner]

33. Yep

The prediction business can be rough. I've learned that on many many occasions.

But in this case, I was making the point that the person in question is white and there is video showing that.

[Ms. Toad]

17. Clearly white.

[questionseverything]

31. about a year ago there was an article about a cop strip searching

2 woman by the side of the road in tx

then last week the "tampon" story

now this in nj...I guess this is the next abomination for us to get used to

what should happen is the cop should go to prison on sexual assault charges

[a kennedy]

2. Yup, this cop has a REAL problem........

and he better be investigated.

[Angry Dragon]

3. assault

[Pepsidog]

4. I practice criminal law and appear often in this court. Rural area without local police Dept s

State Police Patrol and are notorious for stopping young drivers using bogus traffic violations as a pretext for the stop. These Troopers are fishing for dui and marijuana arrests even though NJ is clearly on the road of legal recreational pot usuage. What sucks is if I were to take the case to trial for just the traffic violation my client would have no shot of winning. A municipal court judge who is appointed by town council according to political affiliation and donations. Were the judge to find the kid not guilty it would in effect be calling the cop a liar and the judge wouldn’t get reappointed. And NJ has over 500 of these townships and Boros most with their own police departments and town governments. That means pensions and sweetheart deals for all those township employees. And the judge is part time but has about 10 other courts and can aggregate them for his pension. So he makes about $250,000 a year from all the courts.

[sarah FAILIN]

6. Wow

And people make fun of our speed traps on the way to the beach... I feel sorry for y'all.

[Pepsidog]

10. Rigged system at local level but pretty good at county where major crimes are heard.

Judges there are appointed by the governor and politics of course is involved but the bar association will first deem if governor’s pick is qualified so we have a pretty good county court system. Just impossible to win municipal court trial on factual dispute when it’s the cops word against the accused. Body cams are starting to shift that slightly but cops often mute mic during crucial points during the stop.

[TheBlackAdder]

23. In NJ, cops like to fly up on cars and get really close to scare drivers, making them weave a bit.

.

Their aim is to startle the driver. Then, they will pull them over for crossing the white line or acting erratically. They will do the same thing by following a driver for miles. Ironically, this is locally known as Mau-Mauing, which originally had Kenyan (Mau Mau Uprising) roots to remove white colonists from their lands by menacing and terrorizing them with intimidation tactics.

They also like to park their cars in a driveway or cutout on the side of the road and shine their headlights onto the street. They do this to briefly illuminate the passenger compartment of the vehicle so they can spot profile the vehicle occupants at night.

.

[Pepsidog]

29. Exactly!

[TheFrenchRazor]

27. the judge said guilty in a make-believe trial, slapped the sheriff on the back with a smile,

said supper's waiting at home and i gotta get to it... well, you know the rest. the fact is that america is ruled by one big, organized crime family.

[arthritisR_US]

28. Your legal system is really fecked up. That American exceptionalism

is really working for you.

[bobbieinok]

7. Wasn't a woman cavity-searched by a woman cop by the side of the road within the last 6 months?

Not in NJ, IIRC.

[Pepsidog]

11. Yes cops removed the womans tampon during roadside search. Not sure where.

[bobbieinok]

19. So are roadside, public invasive body searches by cops now fine and dandy?!?!

[Pepsidog]

20. No yes or no answer. Cop says he saw a person shove a gun or knife down their pants then the search

will probably be permitted for the safety of the cop. Like most areas of law there is no definitive yes or no answer about when strip searches are allowed. However, I can’t imagine any police policy that allows strip searches for offenses on the side of the road for what in essence are offenses that aren’t even deemed crimes. Possession of under 50g of marijuana is a disorderly offense in NJ which is not technically a “crime”. Only felony charges are crimes. Unless cops fear that a subject has shoved a gun or other weapon down their pants and are taking the person into custody I cannot envision a policy which would allow them to strip search subjects at roadside or at the police station. I haven’t had a case where a strip search was an issue but have read of many legal settlements against NJ counties for strip searching subjects for minor offenses. I definitely think the cops puttting his hands down a mans pants in search of pot during a roadside search of his person was wrong and more than likely if that’s the only reason for the intimate search then it is not legal. If the cop didn’t see the man shove the pot in his pants and the car search was negative and a pat down search of the man was negative then they should have written a ticket for tailgating and let him go. Bottom line, smell of pot alone cannot justify a strip search of an individual in a last ditch effort to find the source of the odor. The cops were wrong.

[Ms. Toad]

22. Even in the event of a knife or a gun - not legally.

Suspicion of a knife or a gun (threats to safety) justify a "terry" search - a pat down of the body with open palm, a search of the interior of the car if it is within arms' reach or is being impounded)

In the course of the pat down, police may identify by plain feel objects that justify a further warrantless search (either weapons or obvious drug paraphernalia), or an arrest. The finding by plain feel of objects that put an officer's safety at risk or make criminal activity patently obvious permit a more extensive search - but still not a body cavity search).

FWIW - it was not just putting his hands down his pants (the beginning of the video), he inserted his fingers into the man's anus.

[Ilsa]

8. Sounds like sexual assault to me. nt

[BobTheSubgenius]

9. I'm thinking I'll stay in BC, maybe give NJ a wide berth.

I kind of liked what I saw of NJ, but it was all around Cape May. Not a hard area to tolerate, scenery and ambiance-wise.

[Pepsidog]

14. Cape May is beautiful but shore town cops even worse. I haave been to some wealthy shore township

courts during the off season and there were only 2 or 3 cases on the docket. Most shore towns in NJ like Cape May are seasonal but these towns have their own local governments as well and boy do they treat themselves well. Most houses in laces like Cape May are owned as second houses so the owners usually go down just for the summers but they still pay heafty property taxes but use very little township services so the towns are flush with money. Employees, town council get nothing but the best. Here is the bitch, since it’s not your primary residence you cannot vote in local elections. I owned a home in Sea Isle City Nj next to Avalon, Ocean City and Stone Harbor Nj some of the highest real estate prices in the country. My place was cheap worth about $700,000 and I paid about $12,000 in property taxes a year and what did I get for that money? Public works picked up my I trash can a week for 3 months. Stay away from NJ we are texted out the ass and it’s a police state. Cops everywhere.

[rocktivity]

13. Well, WAS the roadside search legal or not?

The Attorney General's Office has a strip search and body cavity search policy that is 23 years old and contains a very general list of "requirements and procedures" for law enforcement officers to follow.

The attorney general's policy says anyone who is detained or arrested, but not placed in jail, may not be strip or body cavity searched without a search warrant or consent and authorization by a superior. However, in emergencies, such searches may be performed if law enforcement officers have "probable cause to believe that the person is concealing a weapon, contraband or evidence of crime."

The policy also says strip searches must be "conducted by person of same sex ... in private ... under sanitary conditions and ... in a professional and dignified manner."

Body cavity searches should not be performed unless someone is jailed, the policy says in bold letters. Such a search is defined as a "visual inspection or manual search of a person's anal cavity, vaginal cavity."

...(The) attorney who represents the driver said in court documents that he has been unable to obtain a copy of the policy despite several requests made in the past three months. Last month, he filed a motion seeking a court order to compel the state police to provide it.

rocktivity

[Pepsidog]

15. Just read about another local county jail settling lawsuits for strip searches.

I didn’t read the article but around here local jails have settled many lawsuits for improper strip searches. Ultimately, the lawyer will obtain the strip search policy and I have little doubt will recover money for his client. A few years ago NJ Supreme Court ruled cops needed a search warrant or consent to search car when they smelled weed saying getting a telephonic warrant was not very difficult. After a few years, the court changed its mind and went back to the standard that smell of weed justifies a search of a car without a warrant. Cops were bitching that they had to make call to get a warrant so the Supreme Court, in an act of cowardice, caved and changed their ruling. Now cops are even more emboldened.

[IronLionZion]

16. Video

http://literock969.com/nj-trooper-strip-searches-man-for-drugs-on-hi-way-at-traffic-stop/

[Ms. Toad]

18. That's just a teeny bit of it.

Essentially the airport search I get subjected to because I won't use the strip search body scanners.

The actual body cavity search occurs quite a bit later, and is far worse.

[IronLionZion]

30. Try flying while brown

you won't like it

[George II]

21. Sue the everloving crap out of them!

[Demovictory9]

24. sick

[TheFrenchRazor]

25. yay!!! War On Drugs!!!!! nt

[peggysue2]

26. This cop deserves to be sued

I grew up in Burlington County and my sister lived in Toms River. This is outrageous behavior. A strip search in public on an open road? Really? Over pot?

Disgusting!