Minneapolis police accused of illegal strip search

A man has sued two Minneapolis police officers for allegedly conducting an illegal body cavity search during a traffic stop that was caught on surveillance video.

Recardo D. Meeks, 26, said that officers David O'Connor and Daniel Anderson pulled him over in the 1900 block of E. 24th St. last year for driving after his license was suspended. He alleged that they asked him to step out of the car, handcuffed him and took him to the rear of the squad car.

The suit, filed Monday in U.S. District Court, alleges that the officers accused Meeks of hiding contraband in his pants, which Meeks denied. One or both of the officers forcibly removed his pants and underwear. After putting on a pair of latex gloves, an officer, against Meeks' will, searched his lower body cavity, the suit said.

One of the officers said they found a small amount of marijuana, and Meeks was given a misdemeanor citation for a suspended license and drug possession.

Meeks wasn't prosecuted for either crime, the suit said. Neither officer made a reference to a strip search in their incident reports. Three months after the stop, Meeks complained to the city's Civilian Review Authority, which opened an investigation. The authority has a copy of the surveillance video but hasn't allowed Meeks or his attorney to view it. A representative of the authority described the video as "explicit," the suit said.

Meeks couldn't be reached for comment Tuesday. A a city spokesman said he couldn't confirm that the city has been served with the suit. John Klassen, the attorney for Meeks, said he looks forward to his day in court.

"Federal courts across the country have uniformly held that public strip searches of suspects, which deny them any privacy whatsoever, are unconstitutional violations of civil rights," Klassen said. "... This was a brutal, forced body cavity search done in public, of a suspect who was stopped on a suspected driving violation."

David Chanen • 612-673-4465