My friend sent me the link, asking if I could believe this shocking story: “Cops Forcibly Search Woman’s Vagina After Smelling Weed in Her Car”. Of course I believe it, I replied to my friend, I reported on it three years ago.

No, not the “Texas state troopers caught on camera probing women’s privates aren’t isolated incidents” story from 2012, where Ashley and Angel Dobbs were probed in the anus and the vagina by Trooper Kelley Hellenson, who never changed gloves between the searches and never bothered to search the ladies’ socks and shoes.

No, not the “Texas Women Subjected to Full Body Cavity Search on Highway” story from 2012, where Alexandria Randle and Brandy Hamilton were probed in the anus and vagina by Officer Jennie Bui on the side of the road in full view of minor relatives in their car. Bui also did not bother to change gloves between searches.

No, not the “Texas woman sues state trooper over invasive roadside body cavity-search” story from 2013, where Texas Corrections Officer Jennifer Stelly was probed in the anus and vagina by (can you believe it?) Trooper Kelley Hellenson. Ashley and Angel Dobbs sued over that 2012 case and it was settled for $185,000. Hellenson “was reprimanded, put on six months leave, and was retrained,” said attorney Allie Booker, who won the Dobbs case and is now representing Stelly. Apparently that retraining didn’t include “don’t sexually assault women on the side of the road on dash cam”.

No, this latest case from June of this year involves Charnesia Corley. She was pulled over for running a stop sign. The cop claimed he could smell weed, so he cuffed Corley, put her in his car, and began searching her car. He found no weed, came back to his car, and claimed he could still smell weed. The cop then calls a female deputy for a search. Corley complains that she’s cuffed and wearing no underwear. The cops stand her up, bend her over, and forcibly remove her pants. Corley begins to resist, so they throw her to the ground. Two cops then hold each one of her legs apart while the female cop probes Corley’s anus and vagina.

Robert Goerlitz, president of the Harris County Sheriff Deputies Organization, says that sexually assaulting women on the roadside isn’t common protocol. Instead, officers are supposed to arrest the suspect, take them to a substation, and submit them to a microwave scanner that requires no bodily penetration.

Perhaps the Texas police were just getting their last few jollies in before September 1. On that day, House Bill 324 goes into effect. It requires that prior to any body cavity search incidental to a traffic stop, a cop has to get a warrant. (What, you thought the Fourth Amendment to the Constitution applies in Texas? Apparently not, since they had to write a law against this form of unreasonable search and seizure.)

The amount of marijuana you have to possess in Texas before you can be charged with a felony is a quarter-pound. Just how much do you think a lady can store up there, anyway? (Whoa. I should not have Googled that.) Sexual assault in Texas is at least a second-degree felony. What sense does it make to commit a felony to find a misdemeanor amount of weed?

Russ Belville

"Radical" Russ Belville is a blogger, podcaster, and host of The Russ Belville Show, a daily two-hour talk radio show focused on the evolution of the legal marijuana industry in the United States. The program is airing live at 3pm Pacific Time from Portland, Oregon, on CannabisRadio.com, with podcast available on iTunes and Stitcher Radio. Russ began his marijuana activism in 2005 with Oregon NORML, then in 2009 went on to work for National NORML, and found and direct Portland NORML.in 2015.