Posted on Fri, Mar. 12, 2004
Women arrested in FTAA protests sue over Miami-Dade strip search
CORALIE CARLSON
Associated Press
MIAMI - Three women arrested during free-trade demonstrations in November have sued Miami-Dade County and several corrections officials, saying they were unnecessarily strip searched and forced to squat in the nude and "hop like a bunny" in plain view of passers-by.
The suit, filed last week in federal court and seeking class-action status, says that corrections workers performed cavity inspections on the three women - Judith Haney, 50, of Oakland, Calif.; Liat Mayer, 19, of New York City, and Jamie Loughner, 39, of Arlington, Va. - in violation of their constitutional rights to freedom from unreasonable searchers and seizures and their right to due process.
"It's very shocking for people who are arrested for misdemeanors and exercising their first amendment right, that they would be subjected to such extreme searching procedures," Randall Berg, an attorney for the Florida Justice Institute, said Friday.
County officials have 20 days to respond to the allegations.
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http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/state/8173620.htm