From the "folks, this is just wrong" department of our War on Drugs, reported by KOB-TV 4 in New Mexico. They are reporting on a lawsuit that arose from an:
incident [that] began January 2, 2013 after David Eckert finished shopping at the Wal-Mart in Deming. According to a federal lawsuit, Eckert didn't make a complete stop at a stop sign coming out of the parking lot and was immediately stopped by law enforcement.
Eckert's attorney, Shannon Kennedy, said in an interview with KOB that after law enforcement asked him to step out of the vehicle, he appeared to be clenching his buttocks. Law enforcement thought that was probable cause to suspect that Eckert was hiding narcotics in his anal cavity. While officers detained Eckert, they secured a search warrant from a judge that allowed for an anal cavity search. The lawsuit claims that Deming Police tried taking Eckert to an emergency room in Deming, but a doctor there refused to perform the anal cavity search citing it was "unethical." But physicians at the Gila Regional Medical Center in Silver City agreed to perform the procedure and a few hours later, Eckert was admitted. While there… 1. Eckert's abdominal area was x-rayed; no narcotics were found. 2. Doctors then performed an exam of Eckert's anus with their fingers; no narcotics were found. 3. Doctors performed a second exam of Eckert's anus with their fingers; no narcotics were found. 4. Doctors penetrated Eckert's anus to insert an enema. Eckert was forced to defecate in front of doctors and police officers. Eckert watched as doctors searched his stool. No narcotics were found. 5. Doctors penetrated Eckert's anus to insert an enema a second time. Eckert was forced to defecate in front of doctors and police officers. Eckert watched as doctors searched his stool. No narcotics were found. 6. Doctors penetrated Eckert's anus to insert an enema a third time. Eckert was forced to defecate in front of doctors and police officers. Eckert watched as doctors searched his stool. No narcotics were found. 7. Doctors then x-rayed Eckert again; no narcotics were found. 8. Doctors prepared Eckert for surgery, sedated him, and then performed a colonoscopy where a scope with a camera was inserted into Eckert's anus, rectum, colon, and large intestines. No narcotics were found. Throughout this ordeal, Eckert protested and never gave doctors at the Gila Regional Medical Center consent to perform any of these medical procedures…. There are major concerns about the way the search warrant was carried out. Kennedy argues that the search warrant was overly broad and lacked probable cause. But beyond that, the warrant was only valid in Luna County, where Deming is located. The Gila Regional Medical Center is in Grant County. That means all of the medical procedures were performed illegally and the doctors who performed the procedures did so with no legal basis and no consent from the patient. ….
The warrant also had expired in time when the "medical procedures" were carried out. Eckert is suing the city of Deming and Deming Police Officers Bobby Orosco, Robert Chavez and Officer Hernandez, as well as three Hidalgo County Deputies and two doctors from the Gila Regional Medical Center.
The petty legalities of time and place of the carrying out of these hideous tortures will, I hope, be sufficient for Eckert to win his suit. But the entire event is an abomination from beginning to end. If only he could just sue for "police being petty officious asshole morons, and doctors violating their professional standards and all human decency by going along."
I blogged yesterday on military doctors also violating their oaths and decency in the name of orders.
UPDATE: Eckert's lawsuit. And yes: they are trying to bill him for medical services rendered. From the suit: "Defendant Gila Regional has billed Plaintiff for the "services" it provided at the request of law enforcement….Plaintiff still receives medical bills for thousands of dollars for these illegal, invasive and painful medical procedures."
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