A female state trooper from Texas has been suspended following allegations of an illegal and humiliating “roadside body cavity search” during a routine traffic stop.
According to KVUE news, two Irving women, Angel Dobbs, 38, and her niece, Ashley Dobbs, 24, were driving along Highway 161 on July 13, when they were pulled over by state troopers Kelley Helleson and David Farrell for allegedly throwing a cigarette butt out the window of their car.
In the dascham footage released by the women and their attorney this week, Helleson is seen prepping herself by wearing a latex glove and performing an extensive…cavity search on both females.
After the officer finished…her work, Angel Dobbs can be heard in the video saying:
“This has been an eye opening experience for me. Never have I been pulled over, never have I been searched like this. I mean, I was like totally violated over there a few minutes ago. I had a finger up my ass and a finger in my p***. This is so embarrassing to me.”
State trooper Farrell called Helleson to perform the search because he said he smelled marijuana and believed that the two women were “acting weird”. The search did not return anything and the women were simply handed over a warning for littering, according to the suit.
Speaking to KTVT-TV this week, Angel Dobbs said: “At this point, I’m in clear shock. I can’t even believe this is happening. Turns me around goes down into the front of my pants into my inner thigh and at which point she goes up with two fingers. I just look at her and say ‘Oh my God, I’ve just been violated.’ I was molested, I was violated. I was humiliated.”
Her niece, Ashley Dobbs, added: “I didn’t know what I could say or what I could do. I felt helpless.”
This past Monday, the two women sued both Helleson and her fellow trooper Farrell, along with Steven McCraw, the director of the Department of Public Safety, in the federal U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas.
“This intrusive cavity search occurred on the side of a public freeway illuminated by lights from the police vehicle in full view of the passing public,” reads an excerpt from the lawsuit that was posted by WFAA. “Moreover, this roadside body cavity search was done without her consent.”
Besides the…director’s cut, but only if you have a lot of free time, a few bags of popcorn and find police scenes interesting, you can also watch the unedited, 1-hour long version after the break.
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