The Place Where Ludington Talks
Real Stories of the Hershey Highway Patrol
This story which took place in Deming, New Mexico is chilling in showing that a local police department took tremendous liberties in violating a man's liberties in a definitely unreasonable search and seizure that is both gut-wrenching and butt-clenching.
Capping the unlawful actions these policemen took part in, a neighboring county's hospital took part in truly invasive probes and diagnostics of this same man, without his consent and cooperated with the unethical police with a spurious warrant in going through many degrading acts. As unethical as the cops actions appear to be, they are almost equaled by the actions of that hospital-- after another hospital refused to be part of such an action. And in the end (no pun intended), they want to charge the man with the bill for this violation of his rights and anal cavity.
Even though the police and hospital reports document the man's allegations, and show that the search was effectively baseless, the City of Deming has the temerity to believe that they will prevail in the federal lawsuit this man has filed against the officers acting under color of law, while violating it repeatedly. But here is the story, courtesy of KOB 4 News, a local news outlet in New Mexico:
The incident 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 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.
What Happened
While there, Eckert was subjected to repeated and humiliating forced medical procedures. A review of Eckert's medical records, which he released to KOB, and details in the lawsuit show the following happened:
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.
"If the officers in Hidalgo County and the City of Deming are seeking warrants for anal cavity searches based on how they're standing and the warrant allows doctors at the Gila Hospital of Horrors to go in and do enemas and colonoscopies without consent, then anyone can be seized and that's why the public needs to know about this," Kennedy said.
Search Warrant Concerns
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.
In addition, even if the search warrant was executed in the correct New Mexico county, the warrant expired at 10 p.m. Medical records show the prepping for the colonoscopy started at 1 a.m. the following day, three hours after the warrant expired.
"This is like something out of a science fiction film, anal probing by government officials and public employees," Kennedy said.
No Comment
KOB reached out to the attorneys representing the defendants in the lawsuit and all declined to comment on the situation. The attorneys said it's their personal policy not comment on pending litigation.
4 On Your Side Investigative Reporter Chris Ramirez cornered Deming Police Chief Brandon Gigante.
"As the police chief what reassurances could you give people when they come through your town that they won't be violated or abused by your police officers?" Ramirez asked Chief Gigante.
"We follow the law in every aspect and we follow policies and protocols that we have in place," Chief Gigante replied.
"Do you think those officers in this particular case did that?" Ramirez asked.
Gigante didn't answer, instead he referred Ramirez to his attorney.
The Lawsuit
David Eckert is suing The City of Deming and Deming Police Officers Bobby Orosco, Robert Chavez and Officer Hernandez. As noted in the video, the City expects to prevail, even though their is no rationale for that claim as yet revealed.
Eckert is also suing Hidalgo County Hidalgo County Deputies David Arredondo, Robert Rodriguez and Patrick Green.
Eckert is also suing Deputy District Attorney Daniel Dougherty and the Gila Regional Medical Center including Robert Wilcox, M.D and Okay Odocha, M.D.
Views: 600
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Willy on
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Amazing. This is kind of what Obama and the Democrats are doing to us every day.
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s.todd
We are taking it up the a_s, metaphorically speaking, due to Obama and the Democrat policies. That of course includes the biggest shaft of all time, Obama care. Get the picture.
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Police brutality has been going on in the U.S. for hundreds of years. As a matter of fact there has been a improvement over the past several decades regarding police aggressiveness due to Miranda and other recent laws. Ask any minority or ex hippy. In a Country of 300 + million people, there are going to be stories like the one above. I don't see a whole lot of difference between police brutality and political brutality or between physical brutality and emotional brutality.
"The word "brutality" has several meanings; the sense used here (savage cruelty) was first used in 1633.[3] The first known use of the term "police brutality" was in the New York Times in 1893,[4] describing a police officer's beating of a civilian.
The origin of modern policing based on the authority of the nation state is commonly traced back to developments in seventeenth and eighteenth century France, with modern police departments being established in most nations by the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.Cases of police brutality appear to have been frequent then, with "the routine bludgeoning of citizens by patrolmen armed with nightsticks or blackjacks."[5] Large-scale incidents of brutality were associated with labor strikes, such as the Great Railroad Strike of 1877, the Pullman Strike of 1894, the Lawrence textile strike of 1912, the Ludlow massacre of 1914, the Steel strike of 1919, and the Hanapepe massacre of 1924.
Portions of the population may perceive the police to be oppressors. In addition, there is a perception that victims of police brutality often belong to relatively powerless groups, such as minorities, the disabled, the young, and the poor.
Courtesy of Wikipedia
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Permalink Reply by XLFD on
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Police oppression is not new, what is relatively new is the para-militarization of police forces and the increased acceptance of rule-breaking and brutality by LEO administrators and the government agencies behind them. Cops who do the right things nowadays often lose their jobs or are ostracized by their peers and employers. Cops who do very bad things get shielded by their peers and government agencies for almost any transgression.
That's why these agencies can always predict they will prevail, and be correct. A citizen may get richer from the settlement, but they will continue on, feeling that they won because their risk-management insurance footed the settlement. The insurance is of course, paid by the oppressed, collectively as ever increasing taxes.
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That's correct X. I think militarizing the police is one of the biggest threats to our liberty. This is something to be very concerned about. I like the Sheriff in this video .
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The sheriff has it right, and is a good sport for coming onto Stossel to counterpoint Rodney Balco. Good police should welcome cameras trained at them and put on them by their department while they are on duty. If the police officer is doing things appropriately, it can only serve to exonerate them.
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Permalink Reply by AQUAMAN on
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Not only outrageous, but totally illegal, unethical, and mostly, just inhumane, and yet, it still exists! There is a "sick response" operating in society right now that perhaps, hasn't been closely and accurately examined before, thanks Stossel, for being the opposite of the LDN type reporters, a real voice for "the People"! What do you think Max, this is NM afterall?
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A city and county in southern New Mexico have settled a lawsuit filed by a man taken to two hospitals and subjected to anal probes over suspicion of hiding drugs, the man's lawyer said Monday.
According to attorneys for David Eckert, Hidalgo County and the city of Deming recently settled their portion of a lawsuit for a total of $1.6 million...
"It was medically unethical and unconstitutional," Shannon Kennedy, Eckert's attorney, told The Associated Press. "He feels relieved that this part is over and believes this litigation might make sure this doesn't happen to anyone else."
In a statement, Eckert said he felt vindicated by the settlement. "I feel that I got some justice as I think the settlement shows they were wrong to do what they did to me," Eckert said. "I truly hope that no one will be treated like this ever again. I felt very helpless and alone on that night."
Hidalgo County and Deming officials both declined to comment about the settlement.
A lawsuit against doctors and the hospital in the case is still ongoing.
http://www.policeone.com/drug-interdiction-narcotics/articles/67381...
Let's hope the abusive police and compliant medical personnel involved get their asses fired.
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I'm sure the City of Deming will think twice about their search procedures however if they"re anything like Ludington's ruling class Deming's Government officials will probably repeat this type of behavior many more times and still remain clueless.
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The City of Deming is as officially oblivious to this as the City of Ludington is as officially oblivious to the McAdam incident. Seriously, I conducted a search on the City website for the keyword "Eckert" (the victim in this case) and came up with nothing. They effectively are telling their voters: "We just spent around $1,000,000 on this, and we don't have to be accountable for it at all."
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