SEARCH WARRANT – MY ASS

The Fourth amendment provides that persons shall be secure in their person, their papers and effects. In Gila County New Mexico one’s person does not appear to include one’s ass…or for that matter, the contents thereof.

David Eckart had just left the local Wal Mart in Luna County, New Mexico when the watchful eyes of the local police caught him rolling through a stop sign. Officer D. Chavez promptly turned on his blue lights whereupon Mr. Eckart pulled to the side of the road. Thus began a fourteen hour ordeal during which Mr. Eckart was repeatedly battered and raped by a group of doctors and a nurse named Eleanor, all with the aid and encouragement of local law enforcement.

Rock Lawyer recently had the opportunity to view the police video and read the transcript of the police report.

Officer Chavez noticed that as the suspect stepped from his car, that the man seemed to going to unusual lengths to be hold, “his butt cheeks together.” Officer Chavez was accompanied by his trusty K-9 dog Leo. Leo’s drug sniffing certification had expired and he had never been certified in the state of New Mexico but none of this failed to slow down Officer Chavez. Leo signaled that he smelled drugs on the seat of the car.

Audio from Police Cam

Officer Chavez “Sir. Why were you clenching your buttocks as you exited the vehicle?”

Suspect “Clenching my buttocks?”

Officer Chavez “Yeah…Don’t lie to me. I saw you clench your buttocks.”
Suspect shakes his head.

“Officer, I’m sorry. I’m not aware that I was clenching my buttocks.”

Officer taps his flashlight on the open door of the suspect’s vehicle.

Officer Chavez “Are there any illegal drugs in your car?”

Suspect “No sir. I don’t use illegal drugs.”

Officer Chavez. “Of course you don’t. My dog just signaled a hit. What do you say to that?”

Suspect “I don’t know what you mean. What is a hit?”

Officer Chavez “It means he smells drugs….on the seat of your car.”

Suspect “I don’t have any drugs,” “I told you, I don’t use drugs.”

Officer Chavez detained the suspect and promptly transported him to the emergency room of the local hospital. He then insisted that the doctor search the suspect’s anal cavity for evidence of illegal drugs. The doctor shook his head.

“I’m afraid I can’t help you,” he said. “I think this is unethical.”

“Don’t worry,” replied the police officer. “I can get a search warrant.”

“Search warrant…my ass,” responded the doctor.  “This is bullshit…. It goes against my Hippocratic Oath. I simply won’t do it.”

Officer Chavez and his partner along with their dog Leo then took the suspect to nearby Gila County Hospital.  His partner stayed with Mr. Eckart while Chavez and Leo went back to Luna County in order to obtain a search warrant.

Under the 4^th Amendment a search warrant must be obtained from a neutral magistrate or judge and must describe with particularity the place to be searched as well the expected fruit of the search.

Officer Chavez’s warrant read in part….

“have probable cause to believe male suspect has hidden illegal drugs and or paraphernalia within his anal cavity…request permission from the court … to search up defendant’s (rectum) ass…expect to find physical evidence …illicit drugs and or drug paraphernalia.”

Officer Chavez did not stop to consider that his warrant was issued in Luna County and would therefore not be valid in Gila County.

Doctors at the Gila Hospital were more than glad to comply with the warrant. While the suspect continued to protest both his innocence and his opposition to the proposed medical procedure, the doctors preceded to x ray the suspect’s abdomen. The x ray showed no sign of drugs. Not to be deterred the doctors began to explore the suspect’s rectum with their fingers…not once, but twice. After failing to find any evidence of the drugs the suspect was given an enema.

“I know he’s got drugs up his ass,” complained Officer Chavez. “You should have seen the way he clenched his butt when he got out of the car.”

The attending physicians looked puzzled after which the officer proceeded to demonstrate. He held his legs close together and took a few steps toward the assembled medical team.

“See what I mean?” he asked. “Nobody walks like that…not unless they’re hiding something.”

“Up their ass,” replied one of the doctors.

The deputy smiled.

“You got it.”

The suspect continued to protest after which we was forced to defecate in front of the officers, the doctor and a nurse named Eleanor.

Officer Chavez donned a pair of surgical gloves and examined the stool while the rest of the group watched.

After finding nothing of interest Officer Chavez insisted they do it again. After the failure of these searches, Eckert underwent two different enemas and each time he was forced to defecate in front of doctors and police officers and the nurse named Eleanor. He watched as each stool search failed to uncover any narcotics.

Another X-Ray was taken, and, finally, doctors sedated Eckert and performed a colonoscopy. Again, no drugs were found.

“Listen,” said Chavez. “Leo smelled drugs. I know he’s got the stuff hidden somewhere. I say we do it again…

The suspect was given another enema after which the police still found no sign of illegal drugs.

According to Eckert’s attorney, not only was the issued search warrant overly broad and lacking in probable cause, but it was also only valid in Luna County, where Deming is located and Eckert was arrested. After the first hospital refused to perform the anal search, police took Eckert to Gila, which is located in a separate county altogether. If that is the case, then doctors performed all eight of the previously mentioned procedures illegally and without the consent of the patient.

To make matters worse, the search warrant expired at 10 p.m. while doctors didn’t even begin prepping Eckert for the colonoscopy until 1 a.m. the next morning, when the warrant had been expired for hours.

The hospital even billed Eckert over $6,000.00 for the procedures and is threatening to take him to collections if he doesn’t pay.

Deming Police Chief Brandon Gigante refused to comment on the incident. There’s a pending lawsuit, he said, “But you can rest assured that we follow the law in every aspect and we follow policies and protocols that we have in place.”