Pubdate: Wed, 06 Nov 2013
Source: Albuquerque Journal (NM)
Copyright: 2013 Albuquerque Journal
Contact:  http://www.abqjournal.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/10
Author: Rick Nathanson

LAWSUIT: DRUG SEARCH INCLUDED COLONOSCOPY

Lordsburg Man Says 15-Hour Ordeal Started With Traffic Stop

A Lordsburg man has filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court in 
Albuquerque alleging that what started as a routine traffic stop 
ended with him being detained for 15 hours by police and subjected to 
eight invasive body searches, including a colonoscopy, in a futile 
attempt to find drugs.

The plaintiff, David W. Eckert, 54, alleges that Deming police 
officers and Hidalgo County sheriff 's deputies, using an invalid and 
expired warrant, took Eckert to the Gila Regional Medical Center in 
Silver City where he was subjected to two digital rectal exams; two 
X-rays, one of them to his chest area; three enemas, after which a 
hospital nurse and a police officer witnessed each of his bowel 
movements and examined his stools; and a forced sedation and colonoscopy.

Eckert protested each medical procedure, insisted he was not hiding 
drugs, and no drugs were found in his body at the conclusion of any 
of the screenings.

In addition, Gila Regional Medical Center billed Eckert for the law 
enforcement requested procedures - about $6,000 according to his 
attorney, Shannon Kennedy.

"They actually sent it to collections," she said.

"This is very serious for our client, who is mortified and lives in 
constant fear of retaliation. The warrant did authorize an anal 
cavity search, but a colonscopy is far beyond that, not to mention 
that it took place at 1 a.m., long after the warrant's 10 p.m. 
expiration time."

Further, she said, the warrant was issued in Luna County, but when an 
emergency room doctor at Mimbres Memorial Hospital in Deming refused 
to conduct the cavity search on ethical grounds, "the police drove 
him an hour away to the Gila hospital of horrors, which is in Grant 
County," Kennedy said.

While the federal lawsuit states "a search warrant signed by the Luna 
Magistrate Judge in the Deming Court is not enforceable in Grant 
County," both of those counties as well as Hidalgo are part of the 
6th Judicial District, said District Attorney Francesca Martinez-Estevez.

"I don't think it's fatal to the search warrant, but I'd rather not 
comment on the legality of a search warrant that I haven't reviewed," she said.

Martinez-Estevez said she was unaware of the specifics of the Eckert 
case. The incident occurred on her first day as the district 
attorney, and because officers never criminally charged Eckert, no 
case was brought to her for review.

Named as defendants are the city of Deming and Deming police officers 
Bobby Orosco, Robert Chavez and an officer identified only as 
Hernandez; Hidalgo County and Hidalgo County Sheriff's deputies David 
Arredondo, Robert Rodriguez and Patrick Green; Assistant District 
Attorney Daniel Dougherty, formerly of the 6th Judicial District; 
Gila Regional Medical Center and doctors Robert Wilcox and Okay H. Odocha.

None of the named law enforcement organizations or the Gila Regional 
Medical Center returned phone calls to the Journal. However, attorney 
Blaine Mynatt, of the Holt Mynatt Martinez law firm in Las Cruces, 
which represents the Hidalgo County defendants, said "I am aware of 
the lawsuit and as far as our firm's policy, we don't comment on 
pending litigation."

The incident that led to the lawsuit occurred about 2 p.m. on Jan. 2, 
as Eckert was leaving the Walmart parking lot in Deming and failed to 
come to a complete halt at a stop sign. Deming Police officer Chavez 
had him exit the vehicle and patted him down "without reasonable 
suspicion," the lawsuit claims.

According to the court document and Kennedy, Chavez apparently 
thought Eckert was standing in an erect posture, keeping his legs 
together, as if he were "clenching his buttocks." A narcotics 
sniffing dog was brought to the scene and alerted to the driver's 
seat of Eckert's car.

Chavez was told by officer Orosco and deputy Arredondo that Eckert 
was known in Hidalgo County "to insert" drugs into his body, 
according to the suit, which adds that the information is false.

Eckert had been stopped in Hidalgo County the previous September for 
a cracked windshield. Drugs were suspected but not found and Eckert 
was not charged, the lawsuit says.

Though he was not under arrest during the January incident, Eckert 
was placed in handcuffs and taken to the Deming Police Department.

Meanwhile, officers obtained a warrant to search Eckert's car and his 
body, including his anal cavity.

When transferred to the emergency room at Mimbres Memorial Hospital, 
the doctor refused to conduct the cavity search on ethical 
principles, so officers drove Eckert to Gila Regional Medical Center 
in another county, according to the suit.

The federal lawsuit, originally filed in August, asks for 
nonspecified actual and compensatory damages, punitive damages, 
"injunctive relief" to protect Eckert and his family from "ongoing 
harassment and intimidation of defendants," and attorney fees and 
litigation expenses.

Kennedy said attorneys representing the defendants have already 
responded to the complaint "and did not dispute any of the facts." 
Consequently, "we filed a motion for summary judgment in just the 
last couple of days."
- ---
MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom