After officer says he smelled marijuana, Texas woman given humiliating cavity search in parking lot

After officer says he smelled marijuana, Texas woman given humiliating cavity search in parking lot

by
Jen Hayden

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Charnesia Corley describing traffic stop
"I feel like they sexually assaulted me! I really do. I feel disgusted, downgraded, humiliated" - Charnesia Corley
Charnesia Corley, a 21-year-old woman from Spring, Texas (north of Houston) was pulled over by a Harris County deputy for allegedly running a stop sign. After searching her vehicle for more than an hour and finding nothing, he did what can only be described as utterly outrageous. From the Houston Chronicle:

Returning to his car where Corley was held, the deputy again said he smelled marijuana and called in a female deputy to conduct a cavity search. When the female deputy arrived, she told Corley to pull her pants down, but Corley protested because she was cuffed and had no underwear on. The deputy ordered Corley to bend over, pulled down her pants and began to search her.

Then, according to Cammack, Corley stood up and protested, so the deputy threw her to the ground and restrained her while another female was called in to assist. When backup arrived, each deputy held one of Corley's legs apart to conduct the probe.

All of this happened in the parking lot of a Texaco gas station. In the end, police did charge her with possession of half a gram of marijuana. HALF A GRAM. Needless to say, Corley and her attorney are filing a lawsuit.

Rebecca Robertson, legal and policy director of the ACLU of Texas, said the cavity search without a warrant was a "blatant" violation of the Fourth Amendment, and that an orifice probe was the most invasive search possible.

"A body cavity search without a warrant would be constitutionally suspect," she said. "But a body cavity search by the side of the road... I can't imagine a circumstance where that would be constitutional."

See Charnesia Corley describe the traffic stop in an interview with ABC 13:

For what it's worth, the sheriff's office has a device they can use to see hidden contraband, even in the most sensitive places. The entire parking lot search was unnecessary from the start. And that half a gram of marijuana? It'll likely end up being the most expensive half a gram of marijuana that Harris County has ever seen. Read more about the stop and the impending lawsuit, including commentary from a police training expert at The Houston Chronicle.