On September 8, 2015, Kimberlee Carbone filed a lawsuit against the city of Newcastle, Pennsylvania, along with various law enforcement officers and medical professionals. According to court documents, the lawsuit was filed after an incident in 2013, when Carbone was restrained and subjected to multiple cavity searches, as well as a CT scan, in a search for drugs. No drugs were ever found.
On November 3, 2013, Officer David Maiella stopped Carbone while she was driving, allegedly because she hadn’t applied her turn signal early enough. Soon after, the police chief and district attorney arrived on the scene and asked Carbone if she had drugs in her possession. She told them she did not, but they didn’t believe her, and Maiella said he could smell burnt marijuana coming from her car, thus, arrested her on suspicion of DUI.
The police did not find any drugs on Carbone or in her car, but proceeded to take her to Lawrence County Correctional Centre.
Female officers from Newcastle Police Department then performed a strip search on Carbone. Two female officers claim they thought they saw a plastic bag protruding from Carbone’s vagina. According to Carbone’s complaint, she was then forced to “repeatedly prod her personal areas by inserting her fingers in her vagina” to remove the non-existent item.
Twice during the strip search, she was asked to bend over, spread her buttocks and cough while police officers visually inspected her rectum. Throughout the ordeal, Carbone says she was “crying hysterically.”
When the strip search failed to uncover any drugs, Maiella took Carbone to Jameson Hospital for an internal cavity search.
At the hospital, Dr Geiser said Carbone needed treatment for a possible overdose, rectal packing and/or oral intake of a controlled substance, even though she didn’t display any symptoms to indicate this. Carbone refused treatment, but was restrained to the bed while Dr Geiser performed an internal examination of her vagina and rectum. He found nothing.
Next, a CT scan was performed on Carbone. Nothing was detected.
Even though the CT scan didn’t find anything, Dr Geiser performed a second internal examination of Carbone’s vagina and rectum. He found nothing, but instructed two nurses to assist him with yet another internal examination. At that point, Maiella removed Carbone’s restraints and said she was free to leave.
According to court documents, Carbone was in hospital for almost two hours and endured a total of three internal cavity searches while restrained to a bed, two of which were performed after both an internal examination and a CT scan had failed to find anything.
Given no drugs were found on Carbone’s person, or in her car when she was first searched, and the only grounds for arrest was Maiella allegedly smelling burnt marijuana (which seems dubious since no drugs were found), conducting multiple internal examinations is an extreme measure, which is surely unjustifiable and arguably fits the FBI’s definition of rape:
“Penetration, no matter how slight, of the vagina or anus with any body part or object, or oral penetration by a sex organ of another person, without the consent of the victim.”
While Carbone’s claims against the defendants don’t explicitly mention sexual assault, she did claim in the initial lawsuit 17 federal and state law violations, including false imprisonment, conspiracy to commit assault, and intentional infliction of emotional distress.
In February this year, however, the U.S. District Court Western District of Pennsylvania dismissed the majority of them, leaving the following six, which Carbone is continuing to pursue:
- Violations of Carbone’s Fourth Amendment Constitutional rights against unlawful search and seizure against Lawrence County, New Castle and all police officers, Lamancusa and all corrections officers.
- False imprisonment against Geiser, Fee, and all police and corrections officers.
- Negligence supervision against Jameson.
- Battery against Jameson, Geiser, and Fee.
- First Amendment retaliation claims against Lamancusa and the police.
- Claims of intentional infliction of emotional distress against the police, corrections officers and Geiser and Fee, Lawrence County and New Castle.
This article (The War on Drugs: Cavity Search or Sexual Assault?) is a free and open source. You have permission to republish this article under a Creative Commons license with attribution to the author Bullseye and AnonHQ.com.
How much they thought to find marihuana in her ass? (and how often do people drive around with marihuana in their asses?) Wtf? Actions were in no proportions with assumed crimes here.
Fucking Pig Bastards
There sounds like there is more to this story than what we are being told even here. I bet there is a guy or girl who dislikes this person and is the one getting it perpetrated on her. Since they lack any hard evidence of the person then they are unable to state it. If anything these cops need to be arrested and fired. That is unacceptable use of force. And how could anyone hide any kind of drug through all those examinations would be beyond me. It is like how many cops tell other cops if you don’t find it after the first search make sure to do two rectal visual searches and make sure to take the suspected criminal to the hospital for an internal search followed by a ct scan then three more searches then afterwards if there is still nothing then release them. I know a few cops who would read this and tell me that this is beyond overkill. They would have been fired and in jail for doing what that guy did. And if a cop stops you and even says for a second they smell pot call your lawyer because the supreme court upholds it is a flawed test and is no longer grounds for a search.