Boston Injury Lawyer Blog

In Massachusetts, Fall River resident Alyssa Bolduc, is suing Massachusetts State Trooper Allyson Powell for compensatory damages over a strip search that took place during a traffic stop in Dartmouth in March 2007.

Bolduc, 18, says that she and three friends were pulled over because of an unlit headlight. Bolduc says that she had unbuttoned the top button on her pants because she and her friends had just finished eating at the Dartmouth Wendy’s and she was full from her meal.

Although the police stop was for the headlight, Bolduc says that the police officers asked her and her friends if they had drugs or any prior criminal offenses.

Police noticed her unbuttoned pants and requested a female police officer to do a strip search. Bolduc says she was forced to stand naked from her waist down to her ankles in front of her friends and motorists—she says police told her to take under underwear off too. Officer Powell, wearing leather gloves, then allegedly conducted an “internal and manual body cavity search” of the teenager’s genitals. The teenager was not given a ticket or arrested following the search.

However, two of companions received traffic tickets. Christine Moniz was issued a $35 ticket for driving without a license, and Ryan O’Connell was issued a $35 ticket for letting someone without a driver’s license drive the car.

Massachusetts’s police strip search policy says that searches must be conducted in a police department facility unless circumstances necessitate otherwise and always in an area of complete privacy, away from public view. Police strip searches must also involve no touching.

Bolduc filed a formal complaint the day after the March 7, 2007 incident. An internal affairs report found evidence that Officer Powell violated police policies. The Massachusetts State Police Division of Standards and Training is disciplining her.

Our Boston personal injury lawyers represent clients in cities across Massachusetts that have been injured because of other parties’ negligent, careless, or criminal actions.

Lawsuit filed against Mass State Trooper, Herald News, April 30, 2008

Related Web Resource:

New England: Massachusetts: Strip-Search Settlement, New York Times, June 1, 2002

Related Web Resources:

Constitution of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts

Massachusetts Police Brutality

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Posted In: Personal Injury , Police Brutality

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Singer Trey Songz says he is thinking of filing a personal injury lawsuit against Springfield police officers because of his recent arrest at a club in Massachusetts.

The R & B singer was arrested on November 3 after his concert at the Hippodrome. Following his performance, a shooting took place outside the club’s parking lot. Songz was not involved in the shooting but he was arrested with two other members of his entourage.

Songz says police closed down the parking lot and prevented him and his entourage from leaving after gunshots were fired. He says police insisted on searching all of them and that they used excessive force to bring down his bodyguard. He claims that seven police officers assaulted his bodyguard and struck him with a nightstick, leaving bruises on his face and causing his arm to fall “out of place.”

Songz also claims that the police officers made crude and racists jokes and comments that they directed at Songz and his entourage. He says four police officers tackled him and assaulted him by kneeing his throat and kicking him in the ribs.

Springfield police deny the accusations and say that the officers acted appropriately and were responding to the verbally and physically abusive actions of Songz and his entourage.

Police Brutality
Even though law enforcement officers are supposed to serve and protect people, there are police officers who abuse their position of authority and power and engage in unjustified shootings, deadly chokings, severe beatings, verbal abuse, sexual assault, and other unnecessary and illegal violent behavior, including making false arrests, unnecessary use of a TASER gun or nightstick, fabricating/planting evidence, speeding in a police cruiser unnecessarily while chasing a suspect, and illegal killings.

Boston, Massachusetts is one of a number of U.S. cities where the Human Rights Watch has documented incidents of police misconduct. There are thousands of cases of police brutality that occur—many of these cases go unreported.

If you or someone you love was injured (or killed) in Massachusetts because a police was involved in a high speed car chase or because a police officer dealt with you in a manner that was excessively and unnecessarily violent—whether verbally, emotionally, mentally, or physically, you should speak with an experienced Massachusetts personal injury lawyer who is experienced in dealing with cases involving police brutality.

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Posted In: Police Brutality

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