Woman 'strip-searched over broken tail light in Baltimore'

Protests: Baltimore police department has been the target of many riots and protests over its treatment of black people
Drew Angerer/Getty Images
Tom Powell11 August 2016

Police in Baltimore strip-searched a woman at the side of a road in full view before handing her an order to repair a broken tail light.

It comes as a US Department of Justice report released today found the Baltimore Police Department (BPD) is unfairly targeting African-American people and using excessive force.

The 14-month investigation has rocked the city where the Black Lives Matter movement gathered momentum following the death of Freddie Gray while in police custody in 2015.

Officers pulled the woman over after spotting her tail light was out, and then asked her to remove her clothes.

A female officer performed the search, before putting on latex gloves and searching her.

“The search occurred in full view of the street, although the supervising male officer claimed he ‘turned away’ and did not watch the woman disrobe,” stated the report, adding that nothing was found and she was released without charges.

It concluded that the BPD engages in a pattern of unconstitutional stops, searches and arrests, creating mistrust within the community.

“This pattern or practice is driven by systemic deficiencies in BPD’s policies, training, supervision and accountability structures that fail to equip officers with the tools they need to police effectively and within the bounds of the federal law,” it states.

Gray’s death, from a neck injury sustained in a police van, led to six officers being charged with murder, but all have now been acquitted.

It triggered days of protests and riots in Baltimore, and also led the Department of Justice to begin its investigation into the force.

Baltimore Police Commissioner Kevin Davis announced today, after the report became public, that the officers who committed “egregious violations” have been fired.

"Change is painful. Growth is painful. But nothing is as painful as being stuck in a place that we do not belong," he said.

The report states that about 44% of unconstitutional ‘stop and searches’ occurred in two small predominantly African-American neighbourhoods, containing just 11% of the city’s population.

It also found that officers were often instructed by their superiors to clear streets of any loitering black men.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in