In a bizarre tale that could only come out of Florida, a woman is suing Volusia County and New Smyrna Beach, Fla. claiming police officers forced her to strip in front of them and defecate in her front yard while they searched her house for meth.
In her lawsuit, Dawn Brooks claims that she was led outside in handcuffs as officers flat out refused to let her go inside and use the bathroom. Instead, they told her to turn her yard into the bathroom, which a judge's summary confirms that she did. Brooks says that she was unable to dress or clean herself because she was handcuffed, and that police ridiculed her as they forced her to put on a plastic jumpsuit.
Furthermore, the lawsuit claims that Brooks' Fourth Amendment rights were violated and that the cops who searched her house did not receive proper training from the city. Strangely, Gawker notes that court documents do not mention whether or not any meth was found in her home.
However, a judge dismissed her initial claims, arguing that Brooks was unable to prove that the need for training was "plainly obvious" or detail how her rights were violated. She's been given until Apr. 4 to revise her complaint. This whole situation is one huge, Floridian mess.
