Sheriff's Rebels Without a Probable Cause

[XLFD]

There is a lawsuit filed August 3, 2012 against the Citrus County Sheriff’s Department in Florida in which Leila Tarantino claims that she was pulled over and then stripped searched by the side of the road in front of her children.

Tarantino says that she was pulled over last July. She claims the officer immediately pulled his weapon and pulled her from the car without explanation or warning, leaving her one and four year old child in the backseat of her car. She says that she was left in the back of his squad car for two hours and then strip searched by the side of the road in full view of bystanders. She further claims that a female officer “forcibly removed” a tampon from her during the strip search. She claims that there were five male officers and one female officer.

The civil action suit is against the government of Citrus County, Florida, Sheriff Jeffrey Dawsey and six unnamed police officers. This is one of those cases where only a fraction of the allegations would need to be proven to make for an outrageous case. A strip search by the side of the road is itself a gross violation of standard procedures. We have not however heard from the officers or the department. They may contest that this was an actual strip search and contest the specific graphic details of the complaint below.

The long period of detention and lack of charges however raise serious questions regarding the basis for holding Tarantino. She was released with only a citation for violating restrictions on her driving license.  Civil liberties have been substantially eroded to the point of extinction in today's America. Whether or not this victim of the Police State will find any relief in a judicial system that is designed to protect the government, its agents and its acts remains to be seen.  Here is the lawsuit, you may wish to advance to the FACTS, starting at #6.  It is shocking :

Tarantino-Tampon-Lawsuit.pdf

Yet most Mason County residents are unaware that the sheriff-elect of our county was self-admittedly (by his police report) guilty of similar violations of the civil rights of former County commissioner Martin Schilling in 2008(not the tampon issue) and also had then-Sheriff Laude Hartrum defend his actions, and eventually settled the civil case out of court leading to the county taxpayers shelling out their hard-earned money to pay for the violation of basic civil liberties to Schilling, and for the County lawyers.  

You will never hear an apology for the two mishandled 'traffic stops' from Sheriff-elect Kim Cole, just like you will likely never hear a valid explanation for the officers' actions in this case in violating this lady's rights.  These two incidents were 'protecting and serving' no one, except the egos of the law enforcement officers, and both inflicted massive humiliation and human degradation for the purpose of making citizens fear the state and its agents.

[vickie folk]

wow!unbelievable!

[Marty Redman]

If the public does not get angered and expect answers from the LEOs who do things like this they deserve whatever indignities they get in the future from them.  Kim Cole will keep his mouth shut, because thats what cops who cant behave do when they brake the law. 

 

Those who enforce the law have a deep need to follow it.  I looked up this story and found the sheriff and police are keeping quiet even after a year.  Lawyer up boys, you just cost the County a fortune.

[XLFD]

The Citrus County citizens should be demanding answers and getting them from the Sheriff's office, but still no word from them, even though this story is going national.

[Willy]

Your right Marty, this is going to cost Citrus County a lot of money. I hope the taxpayers let the Sheriff know how they feel when the next election roll around.

[XLFD]

I would like to see the outcome, not of the next election, but of the vote by the jury in this case.  Let the sun shine in Citrus County, and fight this in court (not settle) so we can see how a sheriff's department operates in your fair paradise.