If you're in New Mexico, be careful about how you stand.

[kragluver]

A convenient accusation...but still doesn't make it acceptable or legal

I concur. I wasn't attempting to pass judgement one way or the other. I was simply recommending others to read the Ayoob blog article. The case sure sounded extreme to me.

[Amonix]

Wow.... Scary thing to see. Being that I live in El Paso it was in our news when it first happened. I remember talking about it with some of the guys at work. I couldn't believe ANYONE would do such a procedure. If it didn't come out on its own then yeah it won't come out. I could see if they saw the guy drop something or some crazy thing. Now I will say the two times I have ran into visits with Las Cruces PD they were extremely friendly and professional. I agree with the first ER though. They did the right thing by the refusal of harming a patient. Who knows what damage could have been done. Then to tell the guy HE has to pay for those services talk about glove meeting face!

[VMI77]

Ayoob had a good blog on this at backwoods home. Sorry don't have the link. Worth reading. Apparently this guy had a history as a drug mule.

Ayoob is a police apologist. I don't think I've ever read him criticize police conduct no matter how outrageous. That aside, he doesn't say Eckert has a history as a drug mule. He cites an unrelated court case as justification that the search was reasonable. He says an officer made the claim about Eckert, as was already known before and unsubstantiated...just a guy making a claim with no evidence. Then he refers to a Blaze article, without comment. The Blaze article says this:

Eckert’s history with drugs had been revealed by his attorneys, Joseph and Shannon Kennedy, but there was no mention of any previous attempts to transport drugs in his anal cavity. Still, though court records confirm Eckert’s history of drug-related offenses, we found no information confirming police’s claim that he once was caught with drugs in his anal cavity.

Eckert’s attorney, Shannon Kennedy, told TheBlaze allegations that her client has previously been caught with drugs in his anal cavity are “completely baseless” and “false.”

“There’s no record, there’s no evidence,” she added. “We did a public records request and investigated that claim thoroughly and found nothing.”

http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2013/11 ... ntroversy/

Edited to add: Legal analysis here http://www.popehat.com/2013/11/07/what- ... ew-mexico/

Edited to add:

To demonstrate how far Massad Ayoob will go to defend outrageous conduct.....he claims repeatedly that the officers were "just trying to save the guy's life." This contention is laughably absurd and hardly adds to his already damaged credibility when it comes to police misconduct.

And btw, his "drug history" apparently consists of four arrests. Three of them were dismissed by the DA, the fourth resulted in a simple possession guilty plea and probation.

[Jaguar]

And here I thought Deliverance was set in Georgia.

But for the record, it is clear I have an ingrained distrust of authority that colors my perception and responses here.

[hillfighter]

But for the record, it is clear I have an ingrained distrust of authority that colors my perception and responses here.

That makes sense. You're American.

[Jaguar]

What I find interesting is that showing nervousness when stopped and questioned by the police is grounds for getting a warrant to rape and torture a citizen at the hands of law enforcement and medical professionals. I submit, being nervous when stopped by law enforcement for even minor traffic infractions should be considered the "reasonable man's" demeanor after reading accounts such as these.

I was stopped once and the trooper commented on me being nervous - that was before I heard about this. The last two times I was stopped were both bogus, first for 58 in a 45 when there isn't' a 45 zone on the road (passed the trooper in a 55, so technically I was in violation, but he told me three times "58 in a 45,") and the second for "disregard stop sign" when I sat at it for 20 - 30 seconds waiting on traffic. Both times I got warnings, but that is not the point. My faith in traffic law enforcement doing even a basic job is greatly diminished after these stops. My faith in law enforcement being reasonable during the stop is greatly diminished after stories such as this.

If the courts uphold this rape and torture as executing a legal warrant and find that law enforcement and medical staff acted properly my already shaken faith in the system will drop to absolute zero.

[TexasCajun]

Unfortunately, the nervousness as PC issue won't be tested in this case. There are too many jurisdiction issues that will most likely be considered first.

[JSThane]

Something else to consider...

The stop happened in Deming, which is Luna county. The "canine handler" was from Hidalgo county (which has no Walmart, or even grocery stores, AFAIK, explaining why Eckert was in Deming). Deming PD has canine handlers. Luna county has canine handlers. There is a Border Patrol station in Deming, with multiple canine handlers. Interagency cooperation is not unknown here.

And yet an Hidalgo county canine was called, from Lordsburg, NM, about 70 miles away. Why? Even if no K-9 were on duty, it would take less time to wake one up and get him on-scene that it would for an on-duty K-9 to reach Deming from Lordsburg. Why was there a presumed need to involve someone from a different county? (And this isn't even touching the fact that the searches and "treatments" happened in yet a third county, because even the not-well-thought-of Mimbres Memorial refused to do what was demanded)

I do know a bit more about this, but can't comment other than to advise others interested in this to do some digging on the officers involved. I do pity the Deming PD, though; they have some good officers, but are kinda the smelly kid in the room no one will associate with, now. This case has tainted the reputation of the whole agency, even those officers undeserving of pariah status.

Side comment towards the woman in El Paso who claimed similar treatment by Customs. I'm inclined to doubt the whole thing. First off, given all the stories I initially read about it placed El Paso in New Mexico, and got numerous other easily-checked facts completely wrong, I threw a whole pound of salt in with my skepticism. It read like a "me-too" complaint designed to get the foot in the door on a lawsuit for "easy money," and the errors in geography and such seemed to point to an attempt to tie it all in together for that purpose. Second, Customs has holding cells of their own, and they're perfectly willing to have someone "naturally" remove "inserted objects" in the toilets there. Third, Customs operates on Federal rules (excessive though they may be), not state rules, and cross-border searches have been upheld, multiple times, as requiring little or no suspicion at all, not the probable cause and a warrant of interior searches. And fourth, if you notice, even in her own complaint, the woman acknowledges one "manual search," and one X-ray - and then, finding nothing, they stopped. I wouldn't get worked up about this one; I could be wrong, but I sincerely doubt there's anything there. Edited to add: The story linked about this has more detail I hadn't seen, including further accusations. Everywhere I initially read about it was all screwed up, so I just disregarded it as bogus. Might be something there, but I'm still doubting it until or unless documentation comes out.

[JSThane]

Unfortunately, the nervousness as PC issue won't be tested in this case. There are too many jurisdiction issues that will most likely be considered first.

All the things I've seen quoted, "nervousness, clenched backside, and 'prior knowledge' of Eckert" do not add up to PC. They are "articulatable facts" and can lead to "reasonable suspicion" for further investigation, but NOT a warrant or a search. I can't use them, and neither should any other officer or agent of the law be able to.

Heck, I've been the shaking, nervous dude who got pulled over, a couple times. Both were because of bogus actions either by an overzealous cop or by a "concerned citizen" who falsified a police report. This doesn't count the times I was shaking because I was hungry, or because I was cold and the truck hadn't warmed up yet, or simply because I wasn't expecting gumball lights in my rearview mirror. And prior knowledge is an indication, but it isn't even enough to pull someone over; you've got to have reasonable suspicion, independently achieved, that the person is doing something illegal right now. It certainly doesn't fly for a search, much less an invasive search.

[cb1000rider]

Unfortunately, the nervousness as PC issue won't be tested in this case. There are too many jurisdiction issues that will most likely be considered first.

All the things I've seen quoted, "nervousness, clenched backside, and 'prior knowledge' of Eckert" do not add up to PC. They are "articulatable facts" and can lead to "reasonable suspicion" for further investigation, but NOT a warrant or a search. I can't use them, and neither should any other officer or agent of the law be able to.

I dunno... You're arguing if they fly in court, assuming you have adequate counsel and the funds required to retain said counsel.
I can tell you front first hand experience, in Texas, acting nervous will likely get your vehicle searched... You can argue about articulable suspicion all you want.
Look at it from the perspective of the LEO who thinks you're hiding something:
1) I've got no PC, as such I have to let this bad guy go.
2) I've got no PC and I can make additional attempts to get some - such as a K-9 unit.
3) I've got no PC and I'm going to search anyway. If I find something, the actions I take will punish the bad guy. The no PC call is my usually my word against his. Worst case, the court sets him free after towing his vehicle, he pays a bond, and pays his attorney.

[03Lightningrocks]

As I read the original post, I was laughing so hard I almost drenched my buttocks. I swear I thought it was a joke or something. This is law enforcement going way to far IMHO.

[JSThane]

Unfortunately, the nervousness as PC issue won't be tested in this case. There are too many jurisdiction issues that will most likely be considered first.

All the things I've seen quoted, "nervousness, clenched backside, and 'prior knowledge' of Eckert" do not add up to PC. They are "articulatable facts" and can lead to "reasonable suspicion" for further investigation, but NOT a warrant or a search. I can't use them, and neither should any other officer or agent of the law be able to.

I dunno... You're arguing if they fly in court, assuming you have adequate counsel and the funds required to retain said counsel.
I can tell you front first hand experience, in Texas, acting nervous will likely get your vehicle searched... You can argue about articulable suspicion all you want.
Look at it from the perspective of the LEO who thinks you're hiding something:
1) I've got no PC, as such I have to let this bad guy go.
2) I've got no PC and I can make additional attempts to get some - such as a K-9 unit.
3) I've got no PC and I'm going to search anyway. If I find something, the actions I take will punish the bad guy. The no PC call is my usually my word against his. Worst case, the court sets him free after towing his vehicle, he pays a bond, and pays his attorney.

I've been the dude who had his car tossed over something asinine, too. Back when I was a teenager, I got pulled over on my way home from college. The stop was initially because the cop thought I might have been drunk (I was actually exhausted from a cross-country drive, College Station to El Paso), but quickly turned into "you will let me search your car or I will arrest you." Being a teenager, I didn't know any better, so I let them search - and find nothing. Turns out, the cop saw coffee filters in the back seat (next to a coffee pot and tin of coffee), added that to the fact I was shaking from cold and adrenaline (it was December, and below freezing), and made a fairly enormous logical jump to "this kid is transporting a portable meth lab." He had me by the side of the road, in wintertime, about 1 AM, in a t-shirt and jeans, for about two hours, while he and about three or four other officers proceeded to take everything apart they could without causing permanent damage, and then running a dog all over the car, inside and out, about three times. "If I only knew then what I know now," then I would have had a fairly good case against that officer. Although I can remember his expression when he finally admitted what he thought he "had" me on, and I laughed in his face.

And I've been the cop who -knew- the car he had pulled over had something illegal in it - and let it go, because I simply -could- -not- establish basis for a search. First step I ever take in a vehicle stop, before the lights even come on, is to ask myself, "Why am I pulling this guy over? Will this stand up in court? Is this justifiable and reasonable?" and I run from there. It's something I think all cops, all LEO, should do before they take action against another person's rights, and I'm continually frustrated when they don't.

[philip964]

http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Peace/2013 ... rch-in-NYC" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Oh it happens in New York. Cavity and strip search for Indian female diplomat. "we don't care about your diplomatic immunity"

Her charge? Visa fraud. Attempting to get a work permit for her maid on false pretenses.

Another reason not to visit New York, you don't have diplomatic immunity.

British view of event. http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world ... 11080.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[mojo84]

JSTHANE,
I just saw this comment of yours and wanted to let you know I really appreciate your attitude toward law enforcement and citizen's rights. Thank you!

"And I've been the cop who -knew- the car he had pulled over had something illegal in it - and let it go, because I simply -could- -not- establish basis for a search. First step I ever take in a vehicle stop, before the lights even come on, is to ask myself, "Why am I pulling this guy over? Will this stand up in court? Is this justifiable and reasonable?" and I run from there. It's something I think all cops, all LEO, should do before they take action against another person's rights, and I'm continually frustrated when they don't."

[bizarrenormality]

Another reason not to visit New York, you don't have diplomatic immunity.

I know Texas feels like another country but we lost that war.