Yet another reason why I'm a member of the ACLU:

[Theophylact]

to fight outrageous *^&$*&!@ like this!

The American Civil Liberties Union of Colorado today filed a lawsuit against the Denver North Metro Drug Task Force on behalf of a local woman who was forced to strip naked in the parking lot of her condominium in full view of her neighbors while male law enforcement officers conducted an unjustified, humiliating, and degrading "decontamination" ritual that had no legitimate purpose.

"This case presents one more example of how the war on drugs has become a war on the Constitution and basic human rights," said Mark Silverstein, Legal Director of the ACLU of Colorado.

According to the lawsuit, the woman - whose name is being withheld by the ACLU to protect her privacy -- was sitting in her second-floor bedroom doing homework for her art class when officers of the Northglenn/Thornton SWAT team and the task force suddenly broke down her door and burst into her home. They held her at gunpoint, handcuffed her, and then executed a warrant to search her premises for a purported methamphetamine laboratory that was never found and had never existed.

Besides failing to find a nonexistent drug lab, the lawsuit says, the search team also found no evidence of hazardous chemicals or dangerous volatile fumes that are associated with clandestine methamphetamine production. They did find a small quantity of drugs, and the plaintiff was arrested for possession.

"Because of the possibility of toxic and volatile chemicals, suspected methamphetamine labs are often treated as hazardous material sites," Silverstein explained. "Before taking drug lab suspects into custody, law enforcement officers routinely force them to strip naked and submit to a 'decontamination' procedure, often without adequate respect for their privacy or basic human dignity."

"But in this case," Silverstein said, "the search team had already determined that there was no methamphetamine lab or dangerous fumes. Therefore there was no legitimate law enforcement or public safety purpose that could possibly justify subjecting our client to this emotionally painful, embarrassing, degrading, and pointless ritual."

The "decontamination area" consisted of a small plastic children’s wading pool filled with cold water, surrounded by cloth tarps that gapped as they blew in the wind. The inside of the "enclosure" was visible not only to numerous male officers standing in the parking lot but also from the second-floor windows of the other residences in the housing complex.

The ACLU’s client was forced to stand naked in the pool, apply the cold water to her body and then dunk her head into the water. At least two male firefighters standing inside the small "enclosure" monitored the entire process while holding a hose and a brush. A third male law enforcement officer, watching through a gap in the tarps, issued orders directing each separate step of the "decontamination" ritual. Numerous additional male officers stood in the parking lot nearby where they could observe the woman naked as she shook and shivered from cold, fear, and humiliation.

The lawsuit, filed in federal district court in Denver, seeks a declaration that the SWAT team violated the woman’s Fourth Amendment rights by forcibly breaking into her home and carrying out the search as a "no-knock" raid without legal justification. The lawsuit also contends that the authorities violated the Fourth Amendment by inviting a private videographer with no law enforcement function to accompany them into woman’s home to film the events.

The ACLU is seeking compensatory and punitive damages for violations of their client’s right to privacy, right to bodily integrity, and her right to be free from cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment.

In addition to the North Metro Drug Task Force, the defendants named in the lawsuit include the cities of Northglenn and Thornton; Lori Moriarty, Commander of the Task Force; Northglenn firefighters in charge of the "decontamination" process; and the on-site commander of the SWAT team.

Attorneys with the law firm of Perkins Coie are assisting the ACLU as cooperating attorneys on this case.

[alivin]

.

[chipbgt]

See, something like this you wouldnt even think the ACLU would have to get involved in, its so unbelievably outrageous.

I dont care what a swat team tells me, Im not going to strip out in a parking lot in some kiddie pool for decontamination. I dont care how many (&*^!%$#$@ guns they stick in my face. This women should have told them to shove it. Hopefully, she will get some come-uppance.....

but yeah she did have some drugs in the house so she isnt the smartest cookie anyway....

[Undeadlord]

From the article, and the few art students I know, my guess is she had a small amount of weed. Not a big deal and barely anything to even glance at nowadays.

Undeadlord

[StealthyV]

I'd like to kick the @ss of the moron who said she had a meth lab in her room. that is total and utter bs...when I become a police officer I'm going to do what I can to stop unlawful practices by those whom are often given more authority than they can handle.

as my mom said to me during the last gulf war, and which is relevant here:

Might doesn't make Right

the ACLU has long been an organization I've admired.

~Branson

[no1_vern]

This is a travesty of justice, and should never have happened.

I cant believe neither the fire dept nor the police dept has female personnel to do the task of watching over this person. There was no REASON to make her wash in cold water IN FRONT of her neighbors except to HUMILIATE HER - Especially AFTER it was discovered that there were NO DANGEROUS materials/fumes present.

[MTAtech]

The point is, without organizations like the ACLU, poor people do not have the means to seek legal action.

[ArcticFox]

I hope those officers get hit by a speeding semi truck.

[OuTpaTienT]

My only criticism of the ACLU is that I have seen many cases where they SHOULD have been involved but they chose not to. Not 'they didn't have resources to get involved' but 'they CHOSE not to get involved'. Utter bs. If a person's rights have been violated then they should want to be involved in trying to right that wrong regardless of the victims political affinity or any other criteria. That's why the ACLU sucks. Not because of what they do, but HOW they do it.