Woman's Lawsuit Over Aggressive Jailhouse Strip Search Leads to More Women Coming Forward With Complaints

Five other women step forward according to attorney

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Dana Holmes was booked for DUI at the LaSalle County jail in Illinois last May, and claims in a federal lawsuit that she was illegally strip searched by three men and a woman. Video of the incident shows Holmes being tackled to the floor and carried into a padded jail cell where she is aggressively stripped and left naked. Holmes says at the time she was afraid the officers might come back in and rape her. One of the deputies throws a blanket in the cell a few minutes later. The cops claim Holmes was combative.

Holmes' lawyer, Terry Ekl, now says five other women have come forward with complaints about illegal searches at the LaSalle County jail. Ekl says every part of Holmes' strip search was illegal—he says state law permits strip searches only of persons suspected of having weapons or drugs and that they can only be done by officers of the same sex.

Watch video of the arrest and jailhouse search below. The search begins around the 3:00 mark.

Comments

[Paul.]

strip searched by three men and a woman.

Three Men and a Big Lady, this summer's feel-good hit!

[AlexInCT]

STOP RESISTING!

[Paul.]

he says state law permits strip searches only of persons suspected of having weapons or drugs and that they can only be done by officers of the same sex.

What you wanna bet that because she was 'combative' it will be ruled that procedures were followed?

[sarcasmic]

Well, that would raise reasonable suspicion that she was carrying weapons or drugs, wouldn't it?

[Paul.]

I don't know about you, but I'm pretty sure I saw her make some furtive movements towards her ladyparts. You don't know what she could have concealed in there. Officer safety.

[sloopyinca]

Well, that would raise reasonable suspicion that she was carrying weapons or drugs, wouldn't it?

Everything changed on 9/11...

[Suthenboy]

I would like to see one of those cops point out in court the part in the video where she becomes combative. I dont think the word means what they think it means.

[Pro Libertate]

Resisting a legally authorized fondle is being "combative."

[sarcasmic]

Look. They said she was combative and that means she was combative. These fine officers took an oath. What are you going to believe, brave public servants or your lying eyes?

[Pro Libertate]

The officers don't need a warrant for fondling, anyway, if they're in hot pursuit.

[Being Waterboarded]

This was trivial pursuit, at best.

[Suthenboy]

Yes

[Loki]

It probably wasn't what she did that was "combative" but what she said. She didn't respect their authoritah.

[sloopyinca]

I was out for a few (ok, several) drinks with someone and the cops showed up to remove him from a place before the manager even asked him to leave. A cop came up from behind and grabbed his arm without him knowing who had done it. They took his ass to jail and told me it was because he was being combative.

I asked them if they routinely assault people that are not being placed under arrest and he asked me if I wanted to go too for trespassing. Since we were already outside, I asked him how I could be trespassing on a city sidewalk and he looked at me like I was insane for challenging him. I can't understand how I avoided jail that night. Probably because there were no less than 20 cellphone cameras recording them.

[sarcasmic]

Probably because there were no less than 20 cellphone cameras recording them.

I'm sure that's the only thing that saved you. I've seen cops pull some shit in the days before cellphone cameras, and was threatened with jail for loitering. Apparently they can jail you for standing still on the sidewalk and watching them while they beat the shit out of defenseless kids who aren't resisting.

[sloopyinca]

What you wanna bet that because she was 'combative' it will be ruled that procedures were followed?

No need for pretense. They'll just say "FYTW" and go on about their business...and the victim here will be forced to move far, far away to avoid more invasive searches and "special treatment" in the future.

[sarcasmic]

and the victim here will be forced to move far, far away to avoid more invasive searches and "special treatment" in the future.

Sadly, that's the truth. Until she moves out of town, the cops will pull her over and give her shit every time they see her. Her life will be nothing short of miserable until she moves away.

[sloopyinca]

Isn't that basically what happened to you?

I mean except for the fact that you're still fucking miserable. :-O

[sarcasmic]

I didn't put it together until years later, but it all stemmed from something stupid that happened in high school. At that point I had DRUGZ in my file. There were no charges, no trial or nothing, but as far as they were concerned I was a drug dealer. So when I found myself the victim of a crime and called the police, they saw it as an opportunity to get me for something drug related. Whenever the cops saw me and recognized me, I would be stopped and questioned and searched. It was constant until I moved away. Then it suddenly stopped.

[Suthenboy]

OT; Shitweasel is on tv now spewing weasel words explaining why the shutdown is all of the republican's fault and not his. He sounds like a kid making excuses. Oh, and he is still pushing the 'default on our loans' crap.

Can we get rid of this guy already? What a sickening display.

[Pro Libertate]

Gosh, if the debt ceiling business is that serious, better talk with those guys from the House, huh? Or is it just too good for politics if the Republicans get blamed for anything that goes wrong? Say, why not let a city get nuked and blame that on the GOP?

[Suthenboy]

I just tried to talk to a lefty acquaintance about this and she mostly clammed up. Her father was a WWII vet and she is pissed about the WWII monument debacle. I suspect she mostly wont talk because she cant bear to hear herself say it; He is a shitweasel.

Always in the past when I would call him shitweasel she would engage me. Now, silence.

No one except pure obamazombies are buying his bullshit.

[Pro Libertate]

They can excuse this government's failings all day long, but they can't ignore the effects. At some point, the pain will outweigh the partisan shiver they get. We can only hope that happens before things get much worse.

[Episiarch]

There are varying degrees of brainwashed among the TEAM sheep. Some are less retarded, and will see things for what they are more quickly. What you're seeing now is the slow progression of doubt and disillusion through the least brainwashed. Depending on how stupid Obama wants to get--and we have seen that that might be unbelievably stupid--that progression could go pretty far.

But it's hard to tell, because TEAM stupidity is amazingly pervasive. They want to believe, and if he gives them any way to do so, they'll do it.

[Pro Libertate]

I know. The last presidential election, Willard's many shortcomings notwithstanding, surprised me, as I thought we'd already passed the pain threshold for a sufficient number of Americans to turn on His Most Excellent at Nothingness.

Clearly, I was mistaken. It's like bad economy/government limbo. How low can we go?

[BakedPenguin]

There are still morons who believe in communism. People have a disturbing ability to convince themselves of things that are obviously countered by easily available evidence.

[Episiarch]

Well, I think we are in a period in history where the politicians have figured out (more than past politicians) that their moronic partisan followers will completely ignore reality and they are exploiting that better than they ever have before. In my opinion, we are here because of the incredible echo-chamber situation that the internet has enabled. Before the internet, you couldn't just go online and have your desire to ignore reality reinforced by incredible numbers of like-minded people. You had to face the reality a bit more. Now, even if you're getting disillusioned, you can just go to your favorite partisan board and have tons of calming reassurance that your denial of reality is shared by so many other people.

[Pro Libertate]

How anyone would even think about touching total state doctrines like communism and fascism is beyond me. Just how many millions of dead does it take to ruin a system for people?

[Episiarch]

I don't know, ProL, because I cannot understand people who only care about words, not actions. I cannot grasp the mentality of someone who does not require backing up what you say, just that you say what they want to hear. It's absolutely mystifying to me, and there are a tremendous amount of people who do this.

My only theory on it is that they also do not give a shit about achieving any of the things they claim to care about; it is the claim of care that means everything to them. Which, if you think about it, is beyond pathetic.

[Pro Libertate]

It's just about status and power, like it's always been. The stated goals are so much bullshit. If that weren't the case, Obama and a number of other politicians would've already been removed from office. By any rational measure, he's as godawful for the stated goals of the Democrats as much as of the Republicans.

[BigT]

For most of those people, they can never disown Obama because he is black. He absolves them of our American original sin of racism. If they change their minds, they will again assume the stain of our national sin. Even relatively intelligent people are so wracked with guilt about racism they will do anything to avoid being tarred (!) with that label.

It's as simple as that.

[Pro Libertate]

Okay, so when he's gone, we can go back to more limited government and freeish markets? Penance is done?

[Mainer2]

If this country was truly over it's racial history, Obama would have been rejected as unqualified, not elected because, as I heard back in 2008, "we need a black president."

[ReasonableS]

Obama is half white. Your white guilt doesn't hold up to that fact.

[Restoras]

ProL - the only way it would ruin it for the Progtards is when EVERYONE is dead. If there is one person living on the planet, that person's life would be immeasurably better with more government. If only the right people are in charge...

[Loki]

Just how many millions of dead does it take to ruin a system for people?

It's not that the system is bad, but that the wrong people were in charge. /commie-tard

[Calidissident]

Loki, I forget where I read it, but I actually saw someone make that exact same comment on a blog yesterday. What's even worse is that the person claimed to have been born in a Communist country.

[Loki]

That's been the standard defense of communism for years. Anytime someone points out the many real world examples of the failures and body count of communist "utopias" it's always "That's because the wrong people were in charge!"

I had a college humanities professor who actually argued that "Sure, Stalin's purges killed a lot of people, but that just shows that he was the wrong person to be in charge, not that communism itself was evil." I actually asked why it was that it seems communist countries are so prone to ending up with really nasty people in charge who end up killing a lot of their own citizens. He didn't have an answer.

[Pro Libertate]

Unlimited power will be abused. Period.

[Paul.]

Maybe she's just accepted that you're racists against shitweasels.

[Suthenboy]

Holy shit, his speech sounds like a Shreek screed. It cant be a coincidence. Same points, same words. Shreek really does get his talking points handed to him by team blue.

[Restoras]

It was awful.

He is so clueless he has no idea he is at the poker table and is the sucker.

[Pro Libertate]

I know the political fallout could go either way or both ways, but, legally speaking, the House holds most of the cards right now. They can do nothing indefinitely, and the president has limited authority to do anything about it, so long as the House sticks to its guns.

What would make things really fun would be if the Senate Democrats decided that the president was what he is--an albatross around their necks--and negotiated a separate peace with the House.

[Restoras]

All spending originates in the House. The House is controlled by Republicans. When you are a Democrat that means you have to...compromise.

com?pro?mise
/?k?mpr??m?z/
noun
noun: compromise;?plural noun: compromises1. an agreement or a settlement of a dispute that is reached by each side making concessions.

Now, I know that progtards don't believe in compromise becasue it weakens the moral authority of their position. But, the political reality is that the Republicans control the House and therefore control appropriations. If President Clownshoes didn't want to be dealing with that his party shouldn't have gotten trounced in the 2010 mid-terms.

Which, of course, begs the question...Why DID the Dumbocrat Progtards get trounced in the mid-terms?

[BigT]

Obama is willing to compromise - he said so.

He'll compromise right after you give up your only lever of power.

[Pro Libertate]

Usually credited to displeasure over some law the Democrats passed. Some law that escapes me. . .maybe dealing with death panels or something? I forget.

[Loki]

Has anyone ever seen Shriek and Obama together?

[sloopyinca]

No, but that doesn't mean they're the same guy. I've never seen Shriek and a 60# bag of dog shit together either. And the odds of them being the same are at least as good as the above.

[Being Waterboarded]

You've neglected another possibility.... drumroll... Shreek = Obama! Yes, THE MAN has been trolling you!

[Zeb]

It really is sickening. I've gotten to the point where I have to leave the room or turn off the radio if I hear him speaking. I loathed Bush as well, but this fucking asshole has actually managed to beat him in terms of plain disgust for me. I honestly didn't think I'd see that so soon. I fear presidents are just going to keep getting worse from now on.

[sarcasmic]

Likewise. I mean, the lies are just ridiculous. Lies, false premises, distortions, it's beyond ridicule. It's disgusting.

[Restoras]

President Clownshoes I was just comparing the federal government's fiscal responsibilities to those of a business or private household.

Aren't these the same idiots that always say you can't compare the two?

[sarcasmic]

He'll contradict himself in the same sentence, and his followers still lap it up.

[Anonymous Coward]

The master of the $700 million presidential campaign decries big money in elections.

[KDN]

Lots of little money is waaaaaay different.

You libertards just can't handle nuance.

[Anonymous Coward]

Individual Contributions - $715,150,163
- Small Individual Contributions - $233,215,440 (33%)
- Large Individual Contributions -$489,660,089 (68%)

Sorry, I didn't catch that last bit. You were bleating something about "nuance"?

[KDN]

And Romney was at 18%/82%. Look, the people have spoken and chose the right leader; someone with the wherewithal to actually raise his funds from the people. Deal with it.

[Andrew S.]

Are you a new troll? Or just a new 'nym of an old troll? It's hard to keep track.

[KDN]

Neither; just a sporadic poster making sarcastic remarks. Figured the multitude of a's would give that away.

[Anonymous Coward]

Neither; just a sporadic poster making sarcastic remarks. Figured the multitude of a's would give that away.

FUCK! I got had! Dammit!

[Anonymous Coward]

Congratulations, sir. You got me.

[Zeb]

I sort of thought it was sarcasm, but it's hard to tell these days.

[Anonymous Coward]

And Romney was at 18%/82%.

So you concede the original assertion about Obama's hypocrisy, then? I mean, before you go wandering off to another point to fail on.

And by the by, if you had a shred of honesty, you would have mentioned that Romney's 82%, which came to $366,336,696 (82%) is still less than Obama's $489 million. But then, why should one expect honest from the Obama cult?

Look, the people have spoken and chose the right leader;

So money buys elections? Except when Obama wins, then they have chosen the right "leader"? Or more correctly, the head of 1/3 of the federal government?

Or does your silly political tribalism outweigh the idea of republican government?

someone with the wherewithal to actually raise his funds from the people.

But I thought corporations weren't people? I guess Barry had better the U of CA system, Microsoft, Google, the Federal Workers' Unions, Kaiser Permanante, Deloitte, Sidley Austin LLP, et al., their money back.

[Troy muy grande boner]

Nothing will ever change until someone like Scalia's wife gets sodomized by pigs.

[Eduard van Haalen]

What kind of pigs?

[ReasonableS]

Please show some self-discipline.

[Troy muy grande boner]

Oh, and I hope this lady fucking bankrupts LaSalle County.

[BigT]

Why blame the poor taxpayers who don't choose their cops. These four ought to be brought up on charges - attempted rape, assault, etc. Five to ten in the big house is about right.

[Invisible Finger]

If enough taxpayers flee it, LaSalle County will be Detroit Jr.

[Mustaf Herod Apyur Poup'r]

OT: The blithering retards at Alternet are directing their two-minute hate at Balko, and it ain't pretty.
http://www.alternet.org/media/.....1#bookmark

[Paul.]

I went to your link, and I got this thrown up in my face:

We are in a fierce battle for the soul of our country. Everything we value is at stake. The poisonous, anti-government venom from radical conservatives and their big money backers is unprecedented in our lifetimes.

[Paul.]

Our vision is far different. We believe in fairness, equality, shared responsibility and investment in people, not the bloated defense and militarization of our country --not the spying by the millions who work for the NSA. We believe in electing people who are not owned by corporations ...or the Kochs.

So far, my prediction is coming true. They're willing to bemoan the state of our country and our federal government and never once mention the word "Obama". "Bush" flowed so easily from their lips in the past. But "Obama"... it's like an un-word.

[Brett L]

Liberte, Egalite, Fraternite... guillotine. That's what I hear whenever someone discusses "fairness".

[Episiarch]

Balko didn't say the right words. If you say the right words, they love you no matter what you do. Say the wrong words--in Radley's case, refute the Stand Your Ground narrative--and they hate you, no matter what you actually do (as in Radley's case, work to try and expose police abuse).

Remember, for these people, only words matter. Actions mean nothing. Only words.

[Paul.]

It's Koch funded, Episiarch, KOCH FUNDED. That's all we need to know.

[Mustaf Herod Apyur Poup'r]

KOCHTOPUS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Neoliberal Kochtopus]

Frankly, I don't think we could have warned Radley anymore about this than we already have. We told him these people are not his friends. We told him this was going to happen, over and again.

[Episiarch]

I think he understood that, it's just that he viewed the career move as worth it.

[Neoliberal Kochtopus]

Honestly, I don't think he did.

[Zeb]

I just wish he would have at least maintained the Agitator, even if it just mirrored what he put on HuffPo. My guess is that he is contractually obliged to do his blogging on their site now. As annoying as the HuffPo is, I honestly think it is great that he is working for a more mainstream outlet and still doing the same sort of good work he did independently and at Reason. But his blogging and the associated commenting on the Agitator was great and just can't be reproduced at HuffPo.

[Ted S.]

Radley's writing for Huffington Post, not Alternet.

[Loki]

Yeah, the alternet crowd probably consider HuffPo to be "right wing" compared to them. They're like the even more retarded cousin to Democratic Underground.

[The Rt. Hon. Serious Man, Visc]

Yeah, HuffPo, as derp-tastic as it is, is no where near as unhinged as AlterNet.

[Pro Libertate]

I'm not even sure it's words. More labels and feelings.

[Calidissident]

They're still not giving up on the Stand Your Ground thing? Didn't the jury instructions also mention something about residences, even though that wasn't relevant? Zimmerman didn't use SYG as a defense - his lawyer explicitly stated the case was not about it, and the prosecution did not mention it either. Pretty strange if that was the fundamental issue at play? In Zimmerman's story, he was on the concrete getting his ass kicked by a guy on top of him when he reached for his gun and shot him. How, exactly could he have retreated in that situation? Whether you believe his story or not, I don't see how Stand Your Ground is a factor if he's claiming he had no ability to retreat.

[Neoliberal Kochtopus]

They don't care. Trayvon was a convenient corpse-vessel through which they could fete their politics. The details don't matter because it's OK to lie for a Greater Truth.

[Episiarch]

Like Newtown, they thought Trayvon would be a dead body they could climb on and achieve some of their political goals. Once they get pointed in a direction, that's the direction they go in, because they are sheep. They were given their marching orders--that they needed to harp on SYG in an attempt to remove certain self-defense protections--and they followed them. Of course they're still harping on it, it's their narrative, and that's all they know. It will be the permanent narrative with them.

[Loki]

Dead bodies, especially dead children, make excellent soap boxes.

[sarcasmic]

They're still not giving up on the Stand Your Ground thing?

They'll never let the facts get in the way of the narrative.

[Troy muy grande boner]

A lot of Balko's followers, particularly progressives and journalists,

You know, I think Balko use to write for a progressive magazine called Reason.

[Calidissident]

And BTW - I don't think I've ever seen as much guilt by association and hyperventilating over supposedly shadowy groups in one article before.

[Neoliberal Kochtopus]

My favorite is the weblink claims Balko's "posing as a real journalist", but the article never actually points out anything he said that was *wrong*, just that he had right-leaning sympathies.

[Zeb]

And the thing is, most of Balko's (very excellent) real journalism is not some sort of libertarian rantings, but stuff that liberals really ought to get behind. And probably would if they didn't know of him as a libertarian (or former Fox columnist). All of his criminal justice and police militarization reporting is really not strictly libertarian. Guilt by association is all that matters.

[Troy muy grande boner]

All that work for that article. Radley is agitating them. When progressive meet facts they don't like, they engage in this kind of character assassination.

"Pro-Fast food." Jesus, these people are fucking idiots. Like chowing down on a Big Mac is some sort of pejorative.

[Anonymous Coward]

Balko was paid with money by Emmanuel Goldstein Rove Cheney Palin Koch.

That's all the Proles of Alternet need to know.

[The Rt. Hon. Serious Man, Visc]

Comments:

Cybershaman ? 4 hours ago ?
Infiltrating liberal groups in order to undermine them is a standard tactic of these types. Remember, to them this is war. No respect for differing opinions is just a mutation of no respect for differing skin color or behaviors. The more they blather on about NOT being sexist, racist, or elitist the worse they become. This is because, at the core, they do not understand these concepts. Being 'pro-life' while shredding the safety net and embracing the death penalty and war machine are just more symptoms of the cognitive dissonance.

CookieThumper ? 11 hours ago ?
Like invisible excrement in the punch bowl... thanks for outing this mutant.

[Episiarch]

The projection is so complete that it's like a parody. Unreal.

[Zeb]

"Everyone who disagrees with me should be ignored because they think that everyone who disagrees with them should be ignored"

Not quite exactly what they are saying, but pretty close. Of course, you hear much the same from a lot of people on the right. My new goal is to stop caring, but I'm not doing very well.

[Loki]

The DERP is strong with this one...

[Brandon]

Oh, the comments:

Cybershaman ? 4 hours ago ?
Infiltrating liberal groups in order to undermine them is a standard tactic of these types. Remember, to them this is war. No respect for differing opinions is just a mutation of no respect for differing skin color or behaviors. The more they blather on about NOT being sexist, racist, or elitist the worse they become. This is because, at the core, they do not understand these concepts. Being 'pro-life' while shredding the safety net and embracing the death penalty and war machine are just more symptoms of the cognitive dissonance.

It's projection all the way down. These idiots are even more paranoid and delusional than Marcotte's followers.

[Andrew S.]

I clicked on that. Now I have to replace my monitor, because I put my fist through it. Hope you're happy.

[Joshua]

The most frustrating thing about it is that they ignore the single common thread through Balko's work - he supports voluntary interactions over forced interactions.

[Fatty Bolger]

I'd be shocked if this wasn't a regular occurrence. They seemed awfully well practiced at the "strip search" procedure, and it sure didn't take much to trigger it, did it?

[Suthenboy]

Yeah, I noticed how the one guy opened the cell door and propped it open with a chair. After they attack her they swoop straight into the cell. They knew what they were going to do before they got her out of the chair.

[Mainer2]

In the Ricky Gervais movie, The Invention of Lying, there's a scene where Edward Norton, as a traffic cop, admits that he becomes aroused, sexually, by doing violence. Like all good satire, it's funny because it's true.

[Being Waterboarded]

Or scary because it's true...

[thebitterconsumer]

I wonder if she's concerned about her mugshot, likeness, video and general information being online.

http://thebitterconsumer.wordp.....vics-once/

[Zeb]

Oh, for fuck's sake. I'm all for legal abortion and think that the laws requiring ultrasounds are terrible (if the doctor thinks it's necessary, he can require it; not the states business). But the way these people characterize it is just idiotic.