Female cop is fired after performing aggressive 'body cavity search' on two women on Texas highway



Trooper Kelley Helleson will lose her job after probing the private parts of two female motorists

Colleague David Farrell has been suspended with pay after requesting the invasive cavity probe because the women were 'acting weird'

It is unclear whether he too will be terminated



Angel Dobbs, 38, and niece Ashley Dobbs, 24, are suing after the 'molestation' on State Highway 161 near Irving, Texas

Also suing the Texas Department of Public Safety for failing to act on previous complaints about 'violating' searches

A female Texas trooper who performed an aggressive 'body cavity search' on two women pulled over on a state highway will lose her job.

Kelley Helleson and her colleague Trooper David Farrell were suspended with pay last month pending an investigating into the shocking July 13 incident.

But the Department of Public Safety announced on Tuesday that Helleson will be terminated after she probed the private parts of the motorists, who are now suing both troopers and the director of the DPS.



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Invasive: Female trooper Kelley Helleson, left, aggressively searched Ashley Dobbs, 24

'The Director of DPS has made a preliminary determination to terminate Kelly Helleson,' DPS spokesman Tom Vinger said in a statement to NBCDFW.com . 'By policy, she will be given the opportunity to meet with the director before the decision is finalized.'



It is unclear whether Farrell will also be terminated for his part in the search, that was caught on tape.



Farrell was the officer who pulled over the women and requested they be subject to the 'body cavity search.'

The victims of the invasive search, Angel Dobbs, 38, and her niece Ashley Dobbs, 24, filed a lawsuit against the two troopers and the state Department of Public Safety in December.

The women, from Irving, Texas, claim in the suit that they were violated when Helleson subjected them to a humiliating and invasive body search that was caught on video.

Out: State trooper David Ferrell, pictured, has been suspended after subjecting two women to invasive body cavity searches

Pulled over: The women were initially stopped by Helleson's colleague David Farrell on State Highway 161 near Irving, Texas

Violating: Helleson, pictured left, also rubbed the women's breasts

The 'unconstitutional' search took place in full view of passing cars on State Highway 161, near Irving. Ashley and Angel Dobbs claim the trooper used the same blue latex gloves while searching both of them.

The women were initially pulled over by Farrell after he saw one of them throw a cigarette butt out the window.

Farrell can be heard in the disturbing video questioning the pair about marijuana after supposedly smelling the drug in the women's vehicle, though he failed to find any evidence of it in the car.

Despite that, he requested the women be searched because they were 'acting weird.'

The lawsuit states he then tried to 'morph this situation into a DWI investigation,' according to DallasNews.com.



Angel Dobbs passed a roadside sobriety test and the women were given warnings for littering.

Lawsuit: The women are also suing the director of the Texas Department of Public Safety for ignoring prior complaints about searches

Humiliating: Angel Dobbs, 38, pictured right, claims she will never forget the humiliating, invasive experience

'Unconstitutional': The search is being deemed unconstitutional in the lawsuit

'This has been an eye-opening experience for me,' Angel Dobbs said on the video. ' I've never been pulled over, never searched like this. I was totally violated over there a few minutes ago... this is so embarrassing to me.'

Angel Dobbs said in the lawsuit that Helleson irritated an anal cyst she suffers from during the search, causing her 'severe and continuing pain and discomfort.'

The suit reads: 'Angel Dobbs was overwhelmed with emotion and a feeling of helplessness and reacted stating that Helleson had just violated her in a most horrific manner.'



The two women are also suing the director of the Texas Department of Public Safety, Steven McCraw, who they claim ignored previous complaints about 'unlawful strip searches, cavity searches and the like.'

The Dobbs' lawyer, Scott H. Palmer, said the shocking incident, which was filmed on one of the trooper's dash-mounted cameras, was a roadside 'sexual assault.'

Abused: Angel Dobbs, 38, right, and niece Ashley Dobbs, 24, left, were pulled over on State Highway 161 near Irving, Texas, and searched

He said the Texas Rangers investigated his clients' complaints but failed to take any action against the troopers.



'You can see what's happening clearly,' he told the news website of the video. 'No one's ever seen the likes of this. We can't let them get away with it.'

The women said the 'molestation' has scarred them for life.

'I've never been so humiliated or so violated or felt so molested in my entire life,' Angel Dobbs told NBCDFW.com .

Her niece added: 'I don't think anybody needs to have to feel, or go through what we went through. It crosses my mind every day. It's humiliating.'

