(The Oregonian) A Portland police officer who pried open the buttocks of a drug suspect and removed a baggie of cocaine committed such a serious violation of the man's privacy that his conviction must be overturned, the Oregon Court of Appeals ruled Wednesday.
The cocaine was the result of an unlawful search and shouldn't have been allowed as evidence used to convict Herbert Lee Scruggs Jr., 30, of cocaine dealing, the appeals court ruled.
"(Scruggs) was subjected to a search -- a strip search and then the forcible manipulation of his body and his buttocks to locate evidence therein -- that was dehumanizing and humiliating," wrote the court, noting that Scruggs was in handcuffs. "(T)he search of defendant was a 'deep intrusion' into his privacy."
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