Strip Searched In B-More!

Rosemary Munyiri is suing the Maryland run State Booking Agency in Baltimore alleging that she was illegally strip searched as a result of a traffic stop last year. Below is a brief description of what allegedly transpired:

She says it all started because of a misunderstanding. She was on her way home after a 12-hour nursing shift, still wearing her uniform of pink scrubs, and took her regular exit off Interstate 83.

According to the arresting officer, she drove past flares he had placed to block the exit. She says she didn't see them. When the officer pulled up behind her with his lights on, she thought it was for someone else and drove ahead to find a safe place to pull over, out of the way. But the lights were for her, and when she kept going, the officer believed she was fleeing.

He ordered her to throw her keys out the window and lie on the wet ground, where he handcuffed her, then put her in the back of his vehicle and searched hers. He found nothing but arrested her on three misdemeanor charges - negligent driving, failure to pull to the curb upon a signal from a police vehicle and attempt to elude uniformed police by failing to stop - and took her to Central Booking.

There, she says, she was told to remove her clothes, squat and cough (to dislodge anything she might be concealing in a body cavity), then spread her buttocks for visual inspection.

This is one of a few suits pending in Maryland alleging the same treatment. Thanks to the Baltimore Sun for reporting the treatment by police.