A Texas woman is receiving a payday after she was violated by a local police officer. The city of San Antonio has agreed to pay Natalie Simms, 40, after she sued them and ex-Detective Mara Wilson who removed Simms’ tampon during a public cavity search.
Simms was sitting on a side street waiting for her boyfriend in August 2016 when police arrived and asked to search her and her vehicle, believing she might have illegal drugs.
Dashcam footage shows Detective Wilson searching Simms’ pockets before asking her to “spread your legs”.
Reports share in a transcript of dashcam footage Detective Wilson repeatedly asked Simms if she was wearing a tampon, saying: “I just want to make sure that’s what it is.”
“She pulled open Natalie’s pants and underwear and used her flashlight to look at the area,” the lawsuit states.
“Officer Wilson chose to reach into Natalie’s pants and pull the string attached to a tampon.”
The tampon was removed on a public road with five male officers nearby, the lawsuit states.
“It’s full of blood, right? Why would you do that?” Simms asked.
“I don’t know. It looked like it had stuff in there,” Detective Wilson replied.
Detective Wilson then commented that Simms is “very hairy” and then asked her to turn around and spread her legs again.
This is highly unusual that a cavity search was being done without a warrant, in public and with no medical personnel nearby.
Even with a legal warrant, some federal courts have held that search warrants authorizing body cavity searches are…