Woman arrested for drunk driving sues after video shows her being strip searched by four officers and tossed naked into a cell



Dana Holmes was pulled over in May for driving at nearly three times the legal limit

Officers say she was resisting arrest and three male and one female officers are all shown stripping the 33-year-old



Holmes is suing Lasalle County police and the four officers involved for what she says was an unnecessary and illegal search

A Chicago-area woman arrested in May for drunk driving is now suing county police for what she says was an illegal, humiliating strip search by four officers that was all caught on video.



Dana Holmes was nearly three times over the legal blood alcohol limit when she was pulled over and taken to county jail, where surveillance footage shows her being pulled to the ground by a female officer and three male officers.



The 33-year-old was stripped completely of her clothes and left naked in a cell alone, where she cried on the floor for several minutes before police tossed her a ‘padded suit.’

Footage: Surveillance video shows an intoxicated Dana Holmes, 33, being strip searched by four police officers

Arrested: Holmes was also taped as she was arrested May 18 for driving at nearly three times the legal limit

Pictured: Dana Holmes was nearly three times the legal drinking limit when she was pulled over in May and was strip searched by four officers Holmes was transported to the county jail by local authorities who made no note of any combativeness. Footage of her DUI arrest released to the media shows her cooperating and the local authorities made no note of her resisting behavior. However, Lasalle County police say local cops informed them she was ‘being mouthy and causing problems’ according to the Chicago Tribune .

It is at the county jail where things take a turn. Holmes is shown being searched against a wall by a female officer as male officers watch. At one point, one of her legs moves. Lasalle police say the footage, which has no audio, shows Holmes kicking them.

Holmes is then taken to the ground by officers and footage shows her being stripped of her clothes by four officers and tossed into a cell.

‘I did not kick,’ Holmes said. ‘I don't know if I lost my balance or what happened, but I wasn't being combative at all.’ While it’s unclear what led police to strip Holmes, laws regarding strip searches are clear. ‘Nothing in the statute says resisting arrest is justification for a strip-search,’ attorney Len Cavise of DePaul University College of Law told the Tribune.

The lawyer representing the Coal City woman agrees. Problems: Local police made no note of her resistance. But when she was transported to the county jail, police say Holmes was 'mouthy and causing problems'

Resisting? Police say footage shows Holmes kicking them. Holmes denies it. While that remains unclear, laws covering strip searches are explicit

‘It's not only a violation of her civil rights. It's also a crime,’ said Terry Ekl.

Under Illinois law, a suspect may only be stripped by an officer of their same sex and never in the presence of anyone not participating in the search.



Holmes was put in a cell while still nude, where she says she cried on the floor for two or more minutes before a male officer tossed her something to cover up with. According to the police report, Holmes was told she would stay there ‘until she sobers up and was willing to cooperate and not fight with deputies," according to the report.’

Stripped: Footage shows Holmes being taken to the ground and pulled into a cell, then stripped by three male officers and a female officer

Legal? Under Illinois law, only an officer of the same sex may strip search a suspect and only those participating in the search may observe it

After she is naked in the cell for what she says is several minutes, a male officer throws Holmes a 'padded suit'

‘I was terrified. I felt helpless. I was scared and I lay there crying,’Holmes told WLS . ‘I just prayed.’



Holmes is suing the LaSalle County sheriff's department and the four deputies for violating her civil rights after her May 18 arrest and for inflicting emotional harm by stripping her without legal justification and says she hopes the officers involved lose their jobs.

