Full dashcam video released in 2015 roadside strip search

Harris County Sheriff's Office dashcam video shows two deputies conduct a traffic stop and body cavity search of Charneshia Corley, a 23-year-old black woman, in June 2015. Corley has filed a civil rights lawsuit against the sheriff's department, claiming the roadside search violated her civil rights. less Harris County Sheriff's Office dashcam video shows two deputies conduct a traffic stop and body cavity search of Charneshia Corley, a 23-year-old black woman, in June 2015. Corley has filed a civil rights ... more Photo: Courtesy Sam Cammack Photo: Courtesy Sam Cammack Image 1 of / 23 Caption Close Full dashcam video released in 2015 roadside strip search 1 / 23 Back to Gallery

The lawyer for a 23-year-old woman suing the Harris County Sheriff's Office over a roadside body cavity search is asking for a special prosecutor to be appointed following the district attorney's office dismissal of the cases against two deputies charged with official oppression.

Attorney Sam Cammack, flanked by protesters and Black Lives Matter activists at a news conference Monday in front of the Harris County Criminal Courthouse, said the two deputies should be on trial instead of having their cases dismissed on the eve of trial.

READ ALSO: Spring woman claims constitutional violation in body cavity probe

Cammack also released a dashcam video of the incident Monday that he says supports his case, though an attorney representing one of the deputies says the video vindicates them.

Cammack filed a civil rights lawsuit on behalf of Charneshia Corley, contending the deputies violated her constitutional rights by conducting the roadside search.

"There has been no material change of fact," Cammack said. "If what those officers did to Miss Corley was not mistreatment — did not amount to rape — I don't know what is."

READ ALSO: Woman sues DPS after 2014 roadside body cavity search

Cammack called for a special prosecutor to investigate the allegations and, presumably, take the deputies to trial for official oppression.

He also raised the specter that the District Attorney's Office was collaborating with the County Attorney's Office, which is representing the county in the lawsuit.

(Story continues below ... )

"After we filed, we know there's been conversations between the county attorney and the district attorney's office," he said. "They even shared our depositions of Ms. Corley with the district attorney's office."

READ ALSO: Trooper who conducted cavity search reinstated

Kandice Webber, an activist with Black Lives Matter Houston, stood with Cammack and others saying they are demanding justice for Corley.

"I've watched Ms. Corley being criminalized and demonized over and over again," Webber said. "She should not have been violated."

The deputies - Ronaldine Pierre and William Strong - have adamantly denied any wrongdoing and were cleared by an internal investigation.

READ ALSO: 24 episodes of police abuse caught on camera

Late Monday, Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez issued the following statement regarding the incident:

I understand and respect the community's concerns regarding the parking lot search of a female suspect during a June 2015 traffic stop. I want to be emphatically clear that today's Harris County Sheriff's Office is fully committed to ensuring that every resident of our community is treated with dignity and respect, even if they are suspected of committing a crime. We hold the public's trust as sacred, and we will always strive to be worthy of that trust. Harris County Sheriff's Office policy prohibits deputies from conducting strip searches without a warrant. In cases in which a warrant is obtained, strip searches must be conducted in a private, sanitary, and appropriate facility. Criminal charges are no longer pending against two of the deputies involved in this case. Deputy W. Strong, who did not actively participate in the search of the suspect in this case, will be allowed to return to patrol duties. Deputy R. Pierre, who initiated the search, will remain in her current assignment within the Communications and Technology Bureau. This incident is the subject of an ongoing civil lawsuit.

In June 2015, Corley was pulled over by Harris County deputies in northwest Houston for running a stop sign. In her lawsuit, Corley said that after interviewing her, the deputies claimed to smell marijuana but found nothing in a search of her car.

Then, female officers told Corley to remove her pants and shone a flashlight onto her exposed genital area to conduct a "visual strip search," according to her lawsuit.

The deputies decided to do a manual body-cavity search while still in the parking lot, according to the complaint.

When Corley protested, "the deputies forcibly threw Ms. Corley to the ground, while she was still handcuffed, pinned her down with her legs spread apart, threatened to break her legs, and without consent penetrated her vagina in a purported search for marijuana," according to the suit.

The video - which lasts approximately two hours - shows the largely polite encounter between Corley and the deputy. The view of the search is blocked by car doors, but Corley can be seen being placed on the ground without her pants, and with her legs pinioned an awkward position for more than 10 minutes while the female deputy shined a flashlight in the area.

It is not clear from the video whether or not the deputy actually physically penetrated Corley searching for the marijuana deputies ultimately claimed to find.

Corley was charged with possession of marijuana and resisting arrest. As stated in the arrest affidavit, Corley allegedly pushed a deputy with her hip and kicked the deputy with her foot.

The Harris County District Attorney's Office later dropped the charge, according to court records. Corley was handcuffed and placed in the patrol care while the officer searched her vehicle.

Two of the three officers involved in the search were indicted by a Harris County grand jury on charges of official oppression. That led to an unusually public fight between the sheriff's office and the Harris County District Attorney's Office, with then-Sheriff Ron Hickman criticizing the decision to charge the deputies as "not based on a review of evidence, but rather ... upon a local news report."

Robin McIlhenny, who represents one of the two deputies indicted and recently cleared of charges, said the full dashcam video tells a much different story than the one they were accused of.

"Deputies can't pick and choose what laws to enforce. And they don't know what end of situation going to be when first get into a situation," McIlhenny said. "She was never penetrated, she was never violated in that way or inappropriately handled."

Read the complaint Corley filed after her arrest:

McIlhenny said the full dashcam video and audio shows that Corley could be heard saying she had smoked marijuana earlier that day and that she had never had a driver's license.

Corley's pants fell down as she was resisting arrest because they were baggy, McIlhenny said. The video does not show how her pants were removed, but they appear to be athletic pants.

"It was not their goal for her to be in that situation," she said. "It's not a situation anyone would wish for or try to create."

At the end of the video, Corley and the officer who initiated the stop can be heard talking shortly before she is taken into the jail.

"That was extreme, to pull my clothes down, in front of people," Corley can be heard saying. "People were watching - you didn't see people walking around? ... it's not like I'm shooting away.

"It was a narcotics search, OK? And you did have narcotics on you" the deputy said, moments before Corley was taken into the jail. "It's just one of those things. ... If you had been honest from the beginning. ... You escalated it. I gave you several outs."

St. John Barned-Smith covers public safety and major breaking news for the Houston Chronicle. Follow him on Twitter and Facebook. Send tips to st.john.smith@chron.com.

Brian Rogers covers Legal Affairs for the Houston Chronicle. Follow him on Twitter and Facebook. Send tips to brian.rogers@chron.com.



