A New Mexico man was awarded $1.6 million after an overdose of anal probes.
David Eckert sued Hidalgo County and the city of Deming saying cops ordered eight different anal probes during a nightmare traffic stop last year.
Police thought David Eckert had drugs hidden in his anal cavity because “he was clenching his buttocks” after cops pulled him over in January 2013 when he didn’t come to a complete halt at a stop sign.
Despite the thorough search — which included two X-rays, three enemas and a surgical colonoscopy — cops found nothing.
To add insult to injury, the medical facility had the gall to charge Eckert for the intrusive exams.
But Eckert filed a lawsuit in November and in just a month, both the city and county, in southern New Mexico, were ready to settle.
Eckert spoke out on the case for the first time this week, sending KOB-TV a written statement about his ordeal.
“I feel that I got some justice as I think the settlement shows they were wrong to do what they did to me,” he wrote. “I truly hope that no one will be treated like this ever again. I felt very helpless and alone on that night. My family and I hope that people understand that I don’t want my face linked with jokes related to anal probing. For this reason, I asked my attorneys to issue this statement in the hopes that the media will respect my privacy.”
Eckert still has pending suits against a deputy district attorney who signed off on the intrusive search warrant, the doctors who performed the search and the Gila Regional Medical Center, the facility that hosted the exams.
Eckert was kept against his will for 14 hours as police and the doctors forced him to undergo the painful and embarrassing, treatments.
“This is like something out of a science fiction movie — anal probing by government officials and public employees,” Eckert’s attorney, Shannon Kennedy, said shortly after the suit was filed in November.
Among the violations was the fact that the search warrant for the exams was valid only in Luna County, but he was taken to Grant County after emergency room doctors first refused to do the exams on ethical grounds. He was also denied the right to make a phone call from the police station.
“It was medically unethical and unconstitutional,” Kennedy told The Associated Press. “He feels relieved that this part is over and believes this litigation might make sure this doesn’t happen to anyone else.”
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