In another unfortunate turn of police misconduct news, Charnesia Corley, 21, fell victim to a forcible and unlawful search after a Texas deputy stopped her for allegedly running a stop sign on June 21.
According to ABC 13, when the officer pulled her over, he claimed to have smelled marijuana in Corley’s vehicle and proceeded to have her removed and placed in handcuffs. The Houston resident stood by as the deputy swept through her vehicle in search of the marijuana, which is not legalized in Texas on any levels. After his hunt turned up empty, he claimed to have still smelled the weed, this time on the inside of his patrol car where Corley was being held. As a result, the officer requested a female deputy to the scene for an illegal vaginal search on the 21-year-old.
READ: The Most Police-Related Killings Of The Year Were In July 2015
“I feel like they sexually assaulted me. I really do. I feel disgusted, downgraded, humiliated,” Corley said. “She tells me to pull my pants down. I said, ‘Ma’am, I don’t have any underwear on.’ She says, ‘Well, that doesn’t matter. Pull your pants down,'” Corley told ABC. She added that the female officer ordered her to bend over as the officer tried to “force her hand inside of her,” in which Corley informed the deputy that she was wrong for what she was doing. At no time did Corley give consent to the search, and calls the search a violation of her civil rights.
Despite her testimony, Harris County Sheriff’s spokesperson Thomas Gilleland said that the cavity search in a public parking lot was completely legitimate. Investigators also claim to have found .02 oz. of marijuana from the search, though the location from where it was found was not identified. Corley and her attorney, Sam Cammack, are gearing up to file a civil complaint with the Harris County Internal Fairs Division. She is also being charged with two misdemeanors, including resisting arrest and possession of marijuana.
READ: #BlackTrialsMatter: Stop Killing Black “Criminals” Before Their Days In Court
Watch Corley’s account of the disturbing encounter below: