MIAMI - Three women arrested during free-trade demonstrations in November have sued Miami-Dade County and several corrections officials, saying they were unnecessarily strip-searched and forced to squat in the nude and "hop like a bunny" in plain view of passers-by.
The suit, filed last week in federal court and seeking class action status, said corrections workers performed cavity inspections on the three women - Judith Haney, 50, of Oakland, Calif.; Liat Mayer, 19, of New York; and Jamie Loughner, 39, of Arlington, Va. - in violation of their constitutional rights to freedom from unreasonable searches and seizures and their right to due process.
"It's very shocking for people who are arrested for misdemeanors and exercising their First Amendment right that they would be subjected to such extreme searching procedures," Randall Berg, an attorney for the Florida Justice Institute, said Friday.
County officials have 20 days to respond to the allegations.
"The county intends vigorously to defend itself and its practices against these constitutional challenges," said County Attorney Richard Rosenthal, who is representing all the defendants. He could not discuss specific allegations.
The suit said only women are subjected to mandatory strip searches. Berg said he discovered that the women-only strip search policy is a countywide practice, not a tactic used only during the Free Trade Area of the Americas protests.
Under state law, people booked on minor offenses can be strip-searched if arrested on a drug charge, suspected of having contraband or booked on a violent offense. Supervisors are required to give written authorization for such a search.
Janelle Hall, a spokeswoman for Miami-Dade County jails, said women are not subjected to routine strip searches.
Inmates of both genders are given strip or frisk searches when an officer suspects they might have contraband, Hall said. Officers performing the search are of the same gender as the inmate, she said.
In the suit, Haney said she was ordered to take off her clothes, bend over, then made to squat and "hop like a bunny" three times before she was allowed to put her clothes on. She was made to stand naked in an area with a door open where people walking by could see her.
Mayer and Loughner gave similar accounts.
Haney and Mayer were arrested on charges of failing to disperse. Loughner faced charges of failure to obey a lawful order and resisting arrest without violence. All the charges were dropped.
Miami city commissioners Thursday voted to repeal a law that critics said gave police too much power during the protests at the global trade summit.
"This was a necessary thing to do so we can go back to normal in the city of Miami," said Commissioner Tomas Regalado, who made the push to repeal his own ordinance. The ordinance prohibited protesters from carrying props including water pistols, balloons, bottles and sticks and required a permit for public gatherings of seven or more people if they lasted more than 30 minutes.
Police arrested 146 people during FTAA demonstrations.
