November 10, 2013
In
arguably the most
bizarre and disturbing case in U.S. history involving a routine
traffic stop by a police officer, a New Mexico man was subjected to
an illegal search that would make the President of the United States
wince if it had occurred at the Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, military detention
center to a terrorist who killed innocent Americans.
"This
case is the strangest example of police abuse to come down the pike
in my lifetime as a police officer," said former NYPD detective
Iris Aquino. "What I see in this horror story is an out-of-control
police department run by an out-of-control police chief [Brandon Gigante]
who was helped by an out-of-control judge."
“Besides
police state tactics, this case of a Fourth Amendment would make Hitler’s
favorite medical doctor, Dr. Josef Mengele, the ‘Angel of Death,’
proud of the New Mexico physicians who violated an innocent man and
violated the Hippocratic [Oath.]
On
Jan. 2, 2013, a 34-year-old New
Mexico resident, David Eckert, was on his way home after shopping
at a department store when he allegedly failed to come to a stop upon
seeing a stop sign. As happens hundreds of thousands of times throughout
the United States, a police cruiser appeared flashed its police lights
signaling Eckert to pull over for a traffic stop.
According
to Shannon
Kennedy, Eckert's attorney who is featured on a YouTube video, a
Deming, N.M., patrol officer ordered Eckert to exit his vehicle.
The
cop claims that Eckert seemed to be contracting his buttock muscles
and this action gave him probable cause to believe the driver was concealing
narcotics in his anus. The officer then radioed his sergeant who along
with other officers secured a search warrant from a judge in order to
conduct a thorough anal examination of Eckert.
Eckert’s
attorney alleges that the Deming Police tried taking Eckert to an
emergency room in Deming, but a doctor there refused to perform the
anal cavity search citing it was "unethical." However, physicians
at the Gila Regional Medical Center in Silver were more than happy perform
the procedure and a few hours later, Eckert was admitted.
Eckert’s
Personal Police State Horror Story
While
at the Gila Medical Center, Eckert was an alleged victim of forced medical
procedures including an illegally performed invasive surgical procedure.
A review of Eckert's medical records and details in the lawsuit show
reveal the following occurred and yet all of the tests met with negative
results -- no drugs:
Eckert's
abdominal area was x-rayed and then the Doctors then performed an exam
of Eckert's anus with their fingers. After finding nothing, the doctors
performed a second exam of Eckert's anus with their fingers.
Not
satisfied with the results, the doctors penetrated Eckert's anus to
insert an enema. Eckert was forced to defecate in front of doctors and
police officers. Eckert had to watch the doctors sift through his stool.
Still not satisfied the doctors penetrated Eckert's anus to insert an
enema a second time. When the exam met with negative results, the same
physicians penetrated Eckert's anus to insert an enema a third time.
When
the doctors x-rayed Eckert repeatedly, they still found no contraband.
In
the most outrageous accusation of illegal police search and seizure,
the doctors prepared Eckert for surgery, sedated him, and then performed
a colonoscopy where a scope with a camera was inserted into Eckert's
anus, rectum, colon, and large intestines. After all of the testing
and all of the searching no illegal drugs were discovered, according
to Eckert.
Throughout
this ordeal, Eckert protested and never gave doctors at the Gila Regional
Medical Center consent to perform any of these medical procedures, his
attorney
stated.
"If
the officers in Hidalgo County and the City
of Deming are seeking warrants for anal cavity searches based on
how they're standing and the warrant allows doctors at the Gila Hospital
of Horrors to go in and do enemas and colonoscopies without consent,
then anyone can be seized and that's why the public needs to know about
this," Kennedy said in a YouTube video about her client’s
ordeal.
To
add insult to injury, the Gila
Medical Center billed Eckert for the procedures he did not authorize
including the colonoscopy.
Case
Goes Beyond Just Police Misconduct
According
to Eckert’s lawyer, there were obvious problems with the way the
search warrant was carried out. Kennedy
argues that the judge’s warrant was too broad and it lacked
probable cause.
Even
more troubling is the fact that while the warrant was arguably valid
in Luna County, where Deming is located, the doctors were located --
and their invasive medical procedures were performed -- in Grant County.
Eckert’s
lawsuit therefore claims all medical treatment was performed illegally
and the doctors who performed the procedures did so without “legal
basis and no consent from the patient.”
In
addition, even if the search warrant was executed in the correct New
Mexico county, the judge’s search warrant expired at 10 p.m. that
night. However, Eckert’s medical records show that the colonoscopy
preparation legally began the next day when it started at 1 a.m., three
hours after the warrant expired.
"This
is like something out of a science fiction film, anal probing by government
officials and public employees," Kennedy said.
“Just
imagine if this entire episode had occurred involving an illegal alien
or a suspected Muslim terrorist. I’m willing to bet a month’s
salary that the case would have been the top news story throughout the
country and the victim of this police use of excessive force would probably
have received a telephone call from President Barack Obama,” said
Mike Baker, a political strategist and attorney.
“But
this case involved a white male and white males are considered the enemy
by the radicals in the U.S. government. The madness of the federal bureaucracy
appears to be ‘dripping’ onto local authorities including
some police agencies,” Baker added.
The
Deming Police Department and Police Chief Brandon Gigante have refused
to discuss this case with anyone. However, they did release a statement:
“We follow the law in every aspect and we follow policies and
protocols that we have in place.”
This
is not the only case of gross misconduct by New Mexico police. This
week a federal grand jury in Albuquerque returned a one-count indictment
charging former Belen Police Department Detective
John Lytle with unlawfully assaulting a victim, identified in the
indictment as R.A., during an investigative stop and arrest on March
15, 2012.
Lytle
is charged with violating R.A.’s right to be free from unreasonable
search and seizure by a law enforcement officer, which includes freedom
from the use of excessive force. The indictment alleges that Lytle unlawfully
assaulted R.A. by striking R.A. while R.A. was in handcuffs. The indictment
also alleges that Lytle’s actions resulted in bodily injury to
R.A.
Lytle
faces a statutory maximum penalty of 10 years in prison for the civil
rights violation.
Eckert
has filed a federal
lawsuit against the City of Deming, Deming Police Officers Bobby
Orosco, Robert Chavez and Officer Jose Hernandez; Hidalgo County Sheriff’s
Deputies David Arredondo, Robert Rodriguez and Patrick Green; Deputy
District Attorney Daniel Dougherty; The Gila Regional Medical Center
including Robert Wilcox, M.D and Okay Odocha, M.D.