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Class-Action Suit Allowed Over Broward Strip Searches

By Jeralyn, Section Inmates and Prisons
Posted on Mon Dec 05, 2005 at 09:18:22 AM EST
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If you were arrested in Broward County (Fort Lauderdale area)for a misdemeanor and strip-searched, you should find out more about this class-action lawsuit. [Note: Link removed at request of Miami Herald on 7/09/08.] Miami had a policy of strip-searching almost everyone arrested which is not allowed.

State statute allows strip searches in cases that are violent in nature or involve a weapon or illegal drugs, not for most misdemeanor arrests.... a policy of searching everyone who walks in the door of the jail is illegal, Fort Lauderdale attorney Kevin Kulik said.

BSO detention Deputy Susette Bryant stated in a deposition that she strip-searched detainees when asked between 1999 and 2002. And, she said, ``every person that walked in that door was strip-searched.''

Last year, Miami-Dade paid out $4.5 million for illegal strip searches.

Kulik's suit is a federal civil rights suit, which means there is no cap on how much plaintiffs can receive....Kulik said there may be thousands of people who had their civil rights violated.

''BSO books about 115,000 people a year,'' Kulik said. ``I expect to have maybe 20,000 to 30,000 clients by the time this is all done.''

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    Class-Action Suit Allowed Over Broward Strip Searches | 19 comments (19 topical)
    Re: Class-Action Suit Allowed Over Broward Strip S (none / 0) (#1)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:06:40 PM EST
    Combine this with the recent "shock and awe" revelations and Miami sounds like a nice little town that needs their financial back broken just to teach them a lesson. Here's hoping it costs them a few hundred million$. After the buses stop rolling, the pools & beaches are closed and the schools are shuttered for all their idiocy maybe they'll vote a few idiots out of office.

    Re: Class-Action Suit Allowed Over Broward Strip S (none / 0) (#2)
    by kdog on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:06:40 PM EST
    Perverts.

    Re: Class-Action Suit Allowed Over Broward Strip S (none / 0) (#3)
    by roy on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:06:40 PM EST
    Do people arrested for indecent exposure get to sue, too? Unless you're neurotically shy you'll probably recover from the experience of being strip searched. Damages should be limited to the $50 or so they'd have made stripping in a club.

    Re: Class-Action Suit Allowed Over Broward Strip S (none / 0) (#4)
    by Sailor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:06:40 PM EST
    somehow rethuglicans never get the difference between voluntary and mandatory. Even prostitutes can be raped. General strip searches are nothing more than a way to humiliate and intimidate folks. {BTW, roy, I bet the strippers in Broward co make considerably more than $50/night. You must go to some sleazy joints ... or maybe you just tip badly;-)

    Re: Class-Action Suit Allowed Over Broward Strip S (none / 0) (#5)
    by kdog on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:06:40 PM EST
    Every strip club I've ever been to charges extra for anal probing.

    Re: Class-Action Suit Allowed Over Broward Strip S (none / 0) (#6)
    by roy on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:06:40 PM EST
    somehow rethuglicans never get the difference between voluntary and mandatory
    Fortunately I'm not one, so I only ignored the difference for comedic purposes. Of course people who are forcibly & unlawfully stripped are entitled to compensation. To achieve Steve's "few hundred million$" it would take $10K per victim expected to sue, which seems rediculously high to me. The "average settlement" of $5K is half as rediculous, which is still rediculous. Hence, ridicule. It just doesn't seem like the sort of thing that would cause lasting harm to the victims. It's a few hundred dollars each, tops. Plus legal fees. If the Florida taxpayer's cough up what I call a fair amount, $500, for each of the hypothetical 30,000 clients, that's only $15M. I don't think that's high enough to prompt voters or leaders to change their behavior. The leaders will actually use it in their "tough on crime" speeches as an example of why they need to fight the courts. The lawsuit will only change Florida for the better if the taxpayers are soaked to compensate the victims well beyond the harm they endured. And I think anal probes were addressed with a previous lawsuit, and so shouldn't inflate the payment for this one. (Disclosure: I have never been stripped searched against my will)

    Re: Class-Action Suit Allowed Over Broward Strip S (none / 0) (#7)
    by kdog on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:06:40 PM EST
    I have...and I equate it with molestation or sexual assault.

    Re: Class-Action Suit Allowed Over Broward Strip S (none / 0) (#8)
    by Sailor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:06:40 PM EST
    Sorry, Roy, I guess having been strip searched I'm sensitive on the issue and missed the comedic value of your post. I agree, there is a reason that punitive damages exist, it is to change egregious behavior, and this certainly counts.

    Re: Class-Action Suit Allowed Over Broward Strip S (none / 0) (#9)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:06:41 PM EST
    Kdog & Sailor.... What kind of places are you guys hanging out in????

    Re: Class-Action Suit Allowed Over Broward Strip S (none / 0) (#10)
    by kdog on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:06:41 PM EST
    BB...It is a question of where undercover police officers are hanging out. In my case, an Allman Brothers concert. Im convinced the perverted piggy just wanted a look at my junk, I made no effort to hide my reefer when they put me in chains.

    Re: Class-Action Suit Allowed Over Broward Strip S (none / 0) (#11)
    by Sailor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:06:41 PM EST
    jaywalking in LA. Told the cop I didn't have to carry ID.

    Re: Class-Action Suit Allowed Over Broward Strip S (none / 0) (#12)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:06:41 PM EST
    Kdog.... I made no effort to hide my reefer .. That will usually do it! Cops do have a tendency to frown on that. Sailor.... jaywalking in LA. Well...considering what I've seen of LA cops, I guess you're lucky they didn't do a Rodney King number on you?

    Re: Class-Action Suit Allowed Over Broward Strip S (none / 0) (#13)
    by kdog on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:06:41 PM EST
    I meant after I was arrested I made no effort to hide my stash. There was no reason to strip search me when I willingly gave up my herbs.

    Re: Class-Action Suit Allowed Over Broward Strip S (none / 0) (#14)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:06:41 PM EST
    Kdog.... They were obviously looking for the 'harder' stuff we all know pot leads too.... LOL

    Re: Class-Action Suit Allowed Over Broward Strip S (none / 0) (#15)
    by kdog on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:06:41 PM EST
    BB...That pervert got hard allright...eyeing my junk.

    Re: Class-Action Suit Allowed Over Broward Strip S (none / 0) (#16)
    by Johnny on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:06:42 PM EST
    Well, with the current state of world affairs, terrorists could be hiding anywhere! We cannot find them prowling wubways or airports or chemical plants or water purification plants... So we need to strip search people! Then we can all be safe! (Maybe thats why I have felt uncomfortably full the last few weeks....)

    Re: Class-Action Suit Allowed Over Broward Strip S (none / 0) (#17)
    by Johnny on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:06:42 PM EST
    Doh! *prowling SUBways even... "wubways" are something entirely different...

    Re: Class-Action Suit Allowed Over Broward Strip S (none / 0) (#18)
    by Sailor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:06:42 PM EST
    Actually, Johnny, I think 'prowling wubways' is exactly what this thread is about ;-)

    Re: Class-Action Suit Allowed Over Broward Strip S (none / 0) (#19)
    by Johnny on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:06:43 PM EST
    hahahaha Sailor!

    Class-Action Suit Allowed Over Broward Strip Searches | 19 comments (19 topical)