New York City Settles Lawsuit For Illegal Strip Searches; Could Pay Victims Up To $50 Million

Jet, Jan 29, 2001

The city of New York has agreed to pay as much as $50 million to settle a lawsuit on behalf of thousands who were illegally strip-searched, attorneys for the plaintiffs said recently.

The searches were conducted by jail guards over 10 months in 1996 and 1997. They were often performed on first-time offenders arrested for minor infractions like littering and disorderly conduct as part of Mayor Rudolph Giuliani's crackdown on "quality of life" violations.

Strip searches of people charged with minor offenses are prohibited unless there is reasonable suspicion that weapons or other contraband are being concealed. The settlement, the result of two years of negotiations, will disburse the money to as many as 50,000 people in amounts from $250 to $22,500.

The awards will be based on the circumstances of the individual searches, accounting for the emotional impact on the victims.

"It was the worst thing I've ever encountered in my life," said Danni Tyson, a plaintiff who had been detained on a disorderly conduct charge that was later dropped. "I just couldn't stop crying.... I was angry, but I was not about to express that at the time."

In April 1997, Tyson, on her way to pick up her daughter from swim class, got into an argument with a police officer on a subway train, the New York Times reported. He grew abusive, she said at a news conference, and arrested her for disorderly conduct and resisting arrest minor offenses.

At the police station, Tyson was taken to a cell by two female corrections officers and told to take off her clothes, including her undergarments.

"Being what I feel was overweight at the time, this was the most horrible thing," she said, the Times reported. "Then the woman with the plastic gloves on--she looked under my breasts and made me turn around. I could hear men talking around me, too close for comfort."

Mayor Giuliani said the searches began after a shift in job functions between police officers and jail guards. The guards, accustomed to conducting such searches of inmates, did not realize it was illegal to strip-search people who have not been arraigned, Giuliani said.

Richard D. Emery, lawyer for Tyson and the other lead plaintiffs, called the settlement precedent-setting.

"Strip searches are a barbaric and degrading law enforcement tool that people accused of minor offenses should not suffer," Emery said.

The settlement is subject to approval by a federal judge.