Pubdate: Wed, 14 Apr 2004 Source: Boston Globe (MA) Copyright: 2004 Globe Newspaper Company Contact: http://www.boston.com/globe/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/52 Author: Ralph Ranalli, Globe Staff SUIT CHALLENGES STRIP SEARCH OF MAN AT DRUG-RAID SITE Lawyer Says Police Violated Own Policy A Boston man who was visiting his girlfriend's apartment during a 2003 drug raid has sued the city and two Boston police drug investigators, claiming his civil and constitutional rights were violated when he was subjected to a body-cavity search allegedly conducted without probable cause and in violation of police department policy. The lawsuit, filed in US District Court in Boston yesterday by a lawyer for plaintiff Ivan Santiago, alleges that Santiago was visiting the Roxbury apartment of Jacqueline Lugo on March 20, 2003, when two squads of narcotics investigators executed a search warrant. Lugo's brother, Ronaldo Lugo, was the target of the investigation, the lawsuit states. After officers threatened to have Jacqueline Lugo's 2-year-old child taken away by the state Department of Social Services if he did not cooperate, Ronaldo Lugo admitted that he had hidden drugs in his anal cavity and in a stuffed animal, according to the lawsuit. Lugo turned over the drugs, but before investigators left, their supervisor, Detective Sergeant William J. Feeney, ordered Officer Marcus Eddings to take Santiago into the bathroom and search him, the suit alleges. Eddings ordered Santiago, who has no criminal record, according to the lawsuit, to take off his clothes "piece by piece" and then performed a cavity search with rubber gloves. Eddings then left the bathroom and pronounced Santiago clean, the lawsuit states. Santiago's attorney, Stephen Hrones of Boston, said yesterday that having a valid search warrant for the apartment didn't give police the authority for an invasive search of his client's body. "You don't have a right to search everyone on the premises," Hrones said. "Plus, they violated their own rules." Hrones said that the department's policy allows body cavity searches when there is a "high degree of probable cause" and requires that the search be conducted by a qualified medical professional. Hrones said he knows of three other similar searches and believes that Boston police drug investigators routinely violate the policy. Neither Feeney nor Eddings, who were both named as defendants in the suit along with the City of Boston, could be reached yesterday at the Area B-2 station in Roxbury, where they are based. Boston Police spokeswoman Mariellen Burns declined to comment on the lawsuit except to confirm that the matter had been investigated by the department's internal affairs division. That investigation found fault only with the fact that Feeney failed to note the search on his incident report, she said. "The technical reporting aspect of the complaint was sustained," Burns said. "But no other allegations against the sergeant or anyone under his command were sustained." - --- MAP posted-by: Richard Lake