Jacksonville Sheriff’s Public Strip Search Of A Suspect Deemed ‘Outrageous, Unwarranted, Embarrassing’

Corrupt policing is a national issue. But there is no other demographic that finds themselves the victims of that truth more than Black people. From being unjustly overpoliced to, in some cases, never making it home after an encounter with law enforcement; the relationship between police officers and the Black community is tense at best.

In yet another instance of police officers wielding their power to humiliate, a Jacksonville sheriff forced a Black man, Ronnie Reed, who he suspected of taking part in a $20 drug deal, to strip down in front of his aunt and other bystanders to have his genitals inspected. The incident, which took place last September, is now at the center of an internal investigation, according to The Tributary. The Sheriff’s office has yet to comment on the case.

The Tributary reported that an undercover police officer attempted to procure cocaine from a different man, who they claim approached Reed and then returned with the product. Once this happened, Reed was detained by another officer before being approached by the officer in question who unbuckled Reed’s pants before pulling them down to check for contraband. The investigation said this action could have been a violation of Reed’s Fourth Amendment rights; a claim that the chief assistant public defender for Palm Beach County, Daniel Eisinger, agreed with.

“If they had probable cause [to arrest], which I think arguably they could have, they should have waited … and had him searched at the jail,” said Eisinger. “I think there are many different legal issues here in terms of the police conduct.” Nellie L. King, president of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, also supports Reed’s right to assume that he would not be exposed publicly. “There appears to have been no urgent need to conduct an invasive and humiliating search,” she wrote in an email. “This outrageous, unwarranted, embarrassing, and futile strip search appears to violate the Fourth Amendment ban on unreasonable searches and relevant Florida statutes.”

According to body cam footage obtained by The Tributary, the officers who approached Reed did not explain why he was being stopped or searched.