Rock Hill Body Cavity Search Lawsuit Headed to Federal Court

Citizen's Court

Citizen’s Court

A lawsuit involving a Rock Hill woman who claims she was forced to do an improper, invasive strip search by two city police officers two years ago is being transferred to federal court. The judge has ordered attorneys on both sides to settle within seven months.

Angela Ruth Doctor, of West Columbia, and her lawyer, Jake Moore, who filed the lawsuit in December, are claiming the officers wrongfully had her strip down naked during a traffic stop on Celanese Road on Dec. 20, 2012. Doctor and Moore are seeking an unnamed amount of punitive and actual damages.

Lawyer for the city of Rock Hill David Morrison of Columbia is saying that although Doctor was pulled over and the search happened, it did not occur how Doctor is claiming and the city denies it did anything wrong. Morrison said the city believes its officers acted in the appropriate manner and they are confident the judge will agree once all facts are out in federal court.

A partially redacted police report has been released from the 2012 incident showing that Doctor was accused by the officers of possessing four grams of marijuana.

Rock Hill Officer Robert Jenkins was helping another officer at the Celanese Road stop when he noticed a strong smell of marijuana coming from a vehicle close by that he pulled over to investigate, the report said. Officer Sarah Blair was called to assist Jenkins, according to the lawsuit and report.

According to the report, two adults were in the car. When Doctor got out of the car, she was told by the officers she’d be searched. Doctor then took a plastic baggy out of her front pants pocket that contained marijuana roaches and blunts. Doctor was then searched and arrested by Blair.

No details of the search are present in the report.

In Doctor’s lawsuit, she is claiming she was kept in the back of Jenkin’s car until he had searched her car and Blair arrived. Doctor claims she was then ordered to remove her clothes and given a cavity search that left her exposed on Celanese Road, the lawsuit and statements from Moore indicate. There is no claim that either officer specifically laid hands on Doctor.

Moore is claiming Doctor was targeted by the officers because of her prior arrest on drug charges that York County records show occurred over 10 years ago. This charge is no longer on Doctor’s criminal history.

Despite that, Moore said police officers don’t have the right to perform a body cavity search based on someone’s criminal record. Only medical personnel have the right to do body cavity searches after obtaining a search warrant, according to Rock Hill Police Department policy.

According to court records, Doctor was previously convicted on weapons and drug charges in 1999, a grand larceny charge in 2002, and a charge for contraband in 2003. In the first two instances, Doctor pleaded guilty. The contraband case was dismissed.

Moore says Doctor has since turned her life around.

Rock Hill police have no record of Doctor filing a complaint to the city about the occurrence until the lawsuit.

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