Woman Who Called for Help Assaulted By Police; Police Suing TV Station that Exposed Them
By Julie Kent. Published on 02/19/2009 - 3:13pm
[img_r]http://www.clevelandleader.com/files/starkcountypoliceofficers.jpg[/img_r]Check out the video below, where WKYC investigative reporter Tom Meyer spoke with Greg Steffey, whose wife, Hope Steffey called 911 after she was assaulted by her cousin. Things took a turn for the worst when the police arrived and treated Hope as the perpetrator. She was arrested, taken to jail, and subjected to a humiliating full-body strip search by both male and female officers, violating the sheriff department's own policy that a strip search be conducted by an officer of the same sex. Hope was then left naked in a cell for six hours. Included in the news segment was video footage of the strip search:
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Hope Steffey is apparently not the only one who has suffered such treatment. Five more women later came forward with similar allegations of mistreatment. But according to the police, each of the female detainees threatened suicide, which is what trigged the strip search under the presumption that they had no means of hurting themselves.
All of the women, however, deny making suicide threats. But even if they had there's no reason for the department policy to have been violated.
The officers involved in Steffey's case, who were caught on video roughly removing her clothing while she screamed, are now suing WKYC, claiming defamation and invasion of privacy.
The Stark County sheriff's deputies filed the lawsuit stating that they are victims of one-sided reporting. The sheriff's office insists that deputies removed Steffey's clothing as a suicide precaution on the orders of a psychologist after she is said to have made a statement to a nurse that indicated she might harm herself.
The sheriff's office also contents [sic] that Meyer ignored "all the facts that interfere with his sensationalized story and one-sided story [sic]." In particular, they point out that he failed to mention that Steffey had been arrested because she was intoxicated and later convicted for misdemeanor resisting arrest and disorderly conduct. Brian Zimmerman, one of the attorneys representing the deputies, said that the reports were "purely for ratings and for advertising and promotion."