On February 2, 2000, Plaintiff filed a lawsuit under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 against the City of Newburgh and Orange County, New York in the United States Court for the Southern District of New York, White Plains Division. The plaintiff, represented by private counsel asked the court for damages, alleging that his Fourth Amendment rights had been violated, along with state tort law claims. Specifically, plaintiff alleged that the blanket strip search policy of strip violated his constitutional rights.

On February 19, 1999, Plaintiff was arraigned because he had been arrested during a routine traffic stop. The arresting officers had run his license and discovered an outstanding federal warrant from the State of Florida. The warrant was not for the plaintiff, but instead for another person with the same name. Plaintiff was held at the Orange County Correctional Facility while awaiting transfer of custody to the U.S. Marshals. Plaintiff was strip-searched three times: once upon arrival as part of a blanket policy of searching all arriving detainees; once in a 'bullpen' when officer suspected someone in the bullpen had cigarettes; and once prior to transfer to the U.S. Marshals on February 22.

On October 2, 2002, the Court (Judge Colleen McMahon) found the sheriff of Orange County was entitled to qualified immunity from damages in regard to the first of the three strip searches, but that material questions of fact remained on whether or not reasonable suspicion existed to justify the second and third strip searches.

The case settled just before trial on May 15, 2006. We have no further information on the details of the settlement. The case was formally dismissed on September 6, 2006.

Blase Kearney - 05/07/2012


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