O/T. Don't speed in Georgia. USA.

A.W · Post by **A.W** » Thu Apr 12, 2007 12:32 pm

Ontario woman angry over Georgia strip-search
12/04/2007 10:51:21 AM

Carleton University student Cheryl Kuehn is outraged about the way she was treated by police in the state of Georgia. She says she was strip-searched and locked up for 12 hours, all for running a stop sign and speeding.

Cheryl Kuehn appearing on Canada AM Thursday

Kuehn, 23, who has just completed her master's in social work, was traveling to Florida with her husband, brother-in-law and a friend.

They had just pulled out of a restaurant parking lot along the I-95 in New Brunswick, Georgia, when Kuehn was pulled over for speeding and failing to stop at a stop sign.

When the officers learned Kuehn was a Canadian, they decided to take her into custody until she could post bail and until they could confirm with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency that she was legally allowed to be in the country.

"They basically told me that I had to go to jail and have to post bond," Kuehn told Canada AM Thursday. "I was very scared of that because I've never been pulled over in my life, so I was crying."

When she arrived at the detention centre, Kuehn was fingerprinted and ordered to strip and shower.

"They wanted me to shower and I kept trying to avoid it because I was really scared and I don't like getting undressed in front of people. But eventually, it was inevitable and I had to go and have a shower in front of someone and get this lice treatment put all over me and -- it was very humiliating,"

Kuehn was told to put on a navy blue jail outfit and sent to sleep in a cell with two other women while other inmates jeered and leered at her from adjoining cells.

"They were trying to intimidate me. And it worked," she says.

Kuehn says she was never given a proper explanation about what was happening to her and says she still doesn't quite understand why she had to endure what she did.

"One of the officers told me that I guess a lot of Canadians will go across the border and they won't pay their tickets. So now it seems like what they're doing in Georgia is they're arresting you and putting you in jail and making you post bond in order to pay for your ticket, which I think is humiliating," she said.

"They treat anyone who is not an American as an illegal immigrant. They don't even look at your passports, because when you look at the front page of the passports, it says that we have protection because we are cleared by our country, but that's not even valid.

"So they need to change something so that they actually acknowledge passports so they don't need to do this immigrant check for tourists."

Georgia corrections officials agree the situation was handled poorly and say Kuehn should have been released within an hour of her arrest. Glynn County Sheriff Wayne Bennett told the Ottawa Citizen that this is the first time a foreign national has been detained so long on such minor violations.

"And it damn well better be the last," he said.

Bennett added that some of the officers involved could be disciplined over the matter.

But Kuehn says that's not what she wants.

"They need to change policies because just firing some officers will not actually change this. It's going to happen again and again."

"They need to learn how to be more professional and how to respect their prisoners no matter who they are because they basically treat you like you're cattle when you're in there."

http://news.sympatico.msn.ctv.ca/TopSto ... rch_070412

This is a lot too much.

BigTiny · Post by **BigTiny** » Thu Apr 12, 2007 12:49 pm

Many jurisdictions have a policy for taking in people from other countries and other states. The idea is the person does not skip out on the ticket and does not have to reappear to enter a plea and again for trial. They are usually taken directly to an on-duty magistrate for this purpose.

We had an old policy that was just like this, except the arresting officer took the person directly to the magistrate and then back to ther vehicle, or hotel, or whatever. They were certainly not to be placed in the central lockup. The policy was changed because city judges got tired of being disturbed at all hours.

The officer that did this showed a complete lack of discretion and professionalism. Please don't think all police are like that, even in the South. Other cops have a word for this guy, which I will not share on this forum.

ecoaster · Post by **ecoaster** » Thu Apr 12, 2007 12:57 pm

That is unbelievable! Outrageous. I would be taking on a lawyer and suing the cops. She didn't have outstanding tickets, warrants, or other charges, so why was she treated like a criminal??? Another bad case of power tripping cops. I bet that will do wonders for the tourist industry

.

A.W · Post by **A.W** » Thu Apr 12, 2007 1:33 pm

I think she may just get a lawyer. She states (on video) that as a result of being forced to take a de-louse shower she now has warts.

ecoaster wrote:Another bad case of power tripping cops. I bet that will do wonders for the tourist industry .

It wasn't the police that did this, it was the Georgia corrections officers.

It looks like the police followed the rules as they are required to do. It was the corrections guys that wielded the abuse.

Finger printing and mugshot are way too much as well.

Grizzly Adam · Post by **Grizzly Adam** » Thu Apr 12, 2007 3:08 pm

Hey, A.W. ...

Sorry to hear of her troubles. There are fools in every country, and we have our share.

Of course, those detention officers aren't representative of American police.

Remember ... Andy Griffith was an American sherriff!

sumner4991 · Post by **sumner4991** » Thu Apr 12, 2007 3:46 pm

She's lying . . .we didn't lay a hand on her!

Worts are caused by taking a shower? Wow . . .I'll have to tell my doctor because he doesn't know that.

Seriously, I think she probably threw a attitude with our law enforcement . . .never a good move in any state or country.

Long Trang · Post by **Long Trang** » Thu Apr 12, 2007 4:54 pm

From what I read, it was police who arrested her and of course corrections got her at the jail. As a member of the law enforcement community, I can say that there is no excuse for that at all. You get rookies and hotshots that do that kind of stuff and make the dept. look bad in the process.

xeon · Post by **xeon** » Fri Apr 13, 2007 3:20 pm

That stupid girl should realize that she could have killed someone when she ran the stop sign and was speeding. I think this was probably the best thing that could have happend to her, because, I bet shes going to be a better driver now.

They would strip her too at the hospital if she ran into a transport truck.

Long Trang · Post by **Long Trang** » Fri Apr 13, 2007 3:54 pm

Must disagree. It doesnt state the MPH over but being that she was pulling out of a parking lot, I bet it wasnt much at all. Also I would wager that the far majority of people on this forum fail to stop text book properly at a stop sign.

A.W · Post by **A.W** » Fri Apr 13, 2007 3:54 pm

xeon wrote:That stupid girl should realize that she could have killed someone when she ran the stop sign and was speeding. I think this was probably the best thing that could have happend to her, because, I bet shes going to be a better driver now.

They would strip her too at the hospital if she ran into a transport truck.

That is quite the statement you made. I guess you've never, ever, in your life did a rolling stop or went 10 over the limit.

Run a stop sign and have a rectal exam, mugshot and fingerprints. Great!!. Why not go one step farther and throw her in a gas chamber.

Would you feel the same way if your wife/ mother or whomever was treated like this??

There is never an excuse for abuse.

LV2HNT · Post by **LV2HNT** » Fri Apr 13, 2007 4:39 pm

Thats horrible, I feel so bad for that poor girl. Their are bad apples everywhere no matter what their career is. I used to drive to the beach in Delaware often and some of the small towns on the way would regularly set speed traps. They would catch a lot of people from out of state that were going on vacation. I don't have first hand experience but I heard they would arrest you if you could not pay the ticket immediately. They didn't have a lot of money so they relied on the income from tickets which a lot of people would not pay if they let them go.

xeon · Post by **xeon** » Fri Apr 13, 2007 7:37 pm

Alright, AW, what if she ran the stop sign and hit one of your kids while they were crossing the road.

Im sure you can make this scenario go in anyway, but the bottom line is, she was at fault, and things did get out of hand.

Once youve seen, in person, a child get hit by a driver who runs a stop sign, you will never have the same opinion as I do. Sorry if my comments were a bit harsh, you just dont know what its like for something like that to happen.

sumner4991 · Post by **sumner4991** » Sat Apr 14, 2007 7:35 am

The loudest kid gets the attention.

From my experience, the law enforcement here in the good ole state of Georgia does a great job. I have gotten my fair share of reamings, but, I always take them constructively and keep my mouth shut. You will get your chance in court to run your mouth and hope it helps. But, on the hwy is not the time and place.

When my oldest girl was 6yrs old, she managed to lean her head out the window(still in the baby seat, thank God). Next thing I know, I'm being pulled over. The lady officer reamed me for 15 minutes(seemed like an hour) about kids being thrown from cars and if I had ever seen this, and it's an ugly sight. Finally, she let me go after threatening to hit me with "child endangerment". I was really pissed . . .I consider myself to be the greatest father in the world and I was nailed for being stupid by a 30 second laspe in attention. After I was able to calm down, I realized the officer was absolutely right. I keep a better eye on the kids while I'm driving from then till today(forget the cell phones). My daughter still gets embarrassed when I bring the story up . . .she remembers it well, 7 yrs later.

Anyway, overall, the officers in the USA do a great job. Also, most of our citizens are great too. It's the few loud ones on both sides that cause all the problems.

BigTiny · Post by **BigTiny** » Sat Apr 14, 2007 11:05 pm

I kinda had a thing about kids in car seats(still do). Never gave a warning, just tickets. Even did it a few times after I was in narcotics; got some strange looks.

wabi · Post by **wabi** » Sun Apr 15, 2007 9:56 am

Hate not to take sides, but it's hard to reach a conclusion without all the facts. It sounds bad from her side of it, but what's the other side of the story? We may never know.
I was a law enforcement officer for a brief time (about one year) before I decided on another line of work, and a lot of times a person's attitude can have an influence on the officer's actions. I can remember one traffic stop I made to give a warning for speeding, and when I walked up to the car the driver was very rude. He shouted "Just give me a damn ticket, I'm in a hurry!" It took me almost an hour to run a complete record check on him and his vehicle and to write the ticket he requested.