Sheriff Dept. Shamelessly Defends Horrific Roadside Rape by Cop Caught on Dash Cam

Houston – The account of a woman who was raped by police on the side of the road after a traffic stop turned into a horrific public “cavity search,” because officers claimed they “smelled marijuana” in 2015, has finally gained enough attention for the local sheriff to issue a response.

Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez released a statement on Facebook, which reminded the public of the department’s perspective on the incident when it referred to the victim of the horrendous treatment as “a female suspect” in the first sentence.

However, it should be noted that when Charnesia Corley, a 21-year-old African American college student with no criminal history, was first stopped, the only thing she was suspected of doing was allegedly running a stop sign.

“I understand and respect the community’s concerns regarding the parking lot search of a female suspect during a June 2015 traffic stop. I want to be emphatically clear that today’s Harris County Sheriff’s Office is fully committed to ensuring that every resident of our community is treated with dignity and respect, even if they are suspected of committing a crime. We hold the public’s trust as sacred, and we will always strive to be worth of that trust.”

Within minutes after the traffic stop began in June 2015, Harris County Deputies William Strong and Ronaldine Pierre claimed that they “smelled marijuana” on Corley, which somehow served as justification for their decision to strip off her clothes in public, force her to lay on the side of the road with her ankles in the air, and to spend over 10 minutes raping her—or as they called it, performing a “vaginal cavity search”—all because they claimed that they smelled a hint of an illegal plant. They found nothing.

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The statement from Sheriff Gonzalez did not directly acknowledge that the actions of Strong and Pierre were wrong and vile, but he did say that the department’s policy requires officers to obtain a warrant before conducting a strip search, and when that warrant is obtained, the search must be conducted in a designated facility.

“Harris County Sheriff’s Office policy prohibits deputies from conducting strip searches without a warrant. In cases in which a warrant is obtained, strip searches may be conducted in a private, sanitary and appropriate facility.”

Despite the fact that none of the standard procedures listed by Gonzalez were followed by either one of the deputies on the scene, neither of those officers were charged, or even fired for their illegal actions.

As The Free Thought Project reported, while Strong and Pierre were initially charged with official oppression and indicted by a grand jury, their charges mysteriously disappeared before they had the chance to go to trial, after the District Attorney’s office took their charges to a second grand jury where they were dismissed earlier this month.

“They were already indicted and set for trial under the old administration and the new administration no bills them, finds a grand jury that will no bill them and they claim it’s based on new evidence,” Sam Cammack, Corley’s attorney said regarding the sudden change.

The statement from Sheriff Gonzalez confirmed that not only are Strong and Pierre not facing criminal charges, they have both returned to work in some capacity for the Harris County Sheriff’s Department, and their salaries are still being paid by the taxpayers.

“Criminal charges are no longer pending against two of the deputies involved in this case. Deputy W. Strong, who did not actively participate in the search of the subject in this case will be allowed to return to patrol duties. Deputy R. Pierre, who initiated the search, will remain in her current assignment within the Communications and Technology Bureau.”

Over 200 individuals commented on the Facebook post, the majority of which were quick to call out the Harris County Sherriff’s Department for its inability to hold its officers accountable. Several noted that while the department refers to the officers’ actions as simply a “cavity search,” they should start calling it what it is: sexual assault.

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“Someone should lose their job at a minimum and criminal charges should be pressed against all of the officers involved. This was a crime against someone’s child,” one woman commented.

“You and your department screwed up. These types of actions are never permissible in public. Your oath swearing community servants did something that would cause any reasonable person to go completely berserk and this statement is the best you can do?” one man wrote.

Gonzalez also confirmed that “this incident is the subject of an ongoing civil lawsuit,” which means that while there is a chance Charnesia Corley could receive financial compensation for the horrific treatment she endured, it will come at the hands of the taxpayers, and it is not guaranteed that William Strong or Ronaldine Pierre will be held accountable for their actions.

*The following dash cam footage of the incident contains graphic content*

Woman Changes Mind About Becoming a Cop After Police Rape Her in Public in Search of Drugs

According to a report from The Riverfront Times, a St. Louis Metropolitan Police Officer performed an unauthorized vaginal cavity search of a female suspect, all while another cop was watching.

The incident allegedly occurred on the night of October 19^th, 2012. Aspiring police officer, 24-year-old Kayla Robinson was a passenger in a car with a few other friends and were going home from a St. Louis Cardinals game. The friends made a U-turn on Goodfellow Blvd. at around 10:45pm. Supposedly suspecting the car was attempting to avoid a police checkpoint just ahead, Detective Angela Hawkins and her partner pulled the car over and began to question the individuals inside.

The police officers took Robinson out of the car, and according to RT, “Hawkins allegedly pushed the young woman up against a tractor-trailer and demanded to know where ‘the dope and the guns’ were.” That’s when Robinson says her nightmare began. Detective Hawkins then allegedly unbuttoned her pants, forced her to bend over while facing Hawkins’ male partner, and she then placed her fingers inside Robinson’s vagina, attempting to find drugs the detective believed were shoved inside. All the while Robinson was pleading for the cavity search to take place at the police station and not outside, in the open, in between several tractor trailers.

Robinson says her requests for a more private search were denied and she was forcibly penetrated by Hawkins. Now Robinson is demanding that Detective Hawkins answer for her actions in a civil suit filed against the officer as well as the city of St. Louis. According to the lawsuit:

Defendant Hawkins put the gloves on, turned Plaintiff around so as to face the male officer, and began unbuttoning Plaintiff’s pants. At this time, Plaintiff was crying hysterically and begging Defendant Hawkins to take her to jail and search her there. … Defendant Hawkins instead forced Plaintiff to bend over and placed her fingers inside Plaintiff’s vagina. … After finding no drugs on Plaintiff during the course of this unreasonable and unlawful search, Defendant Hawkins fastened Plaintiff’s pants and slammed her with excessive force into the parked trailer.

While Robinson’s attorney admits she was in possession of marijuana that evening, and surrendered the baggie to officers, there was no reason to suspect Robinson of being in possession of cocaine. After the incident, Robinson filed a report with St. Louis PD’s office of internal affairs. After having conducted an investigation of the incident, internal affairs told Robinson they wrote her a letter discussing their conclusions, but Robinson said she never received any final report. Three years after the incident, after not having received any word from their investigation, she reached out to investigators again who told her that the complaints against Hawkins were “sustained” and that she’d been “disciplined” but didn’t go into any detail about how she was disciplined.

As The Free Thought Project has uncovered on numerous occasions, a slap on the wrist would probably hurt worse than police departments’ so-called “discipline.” As we’ve reported to you on numerous occasions, police officers are often given paid time off, for months if not years while investigations related to their conduct are taking place.

Jeremy Hollingshead, Robinson’s lawyer, commented on the case saying, “This is indicative of the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department…They do it every single day. They target African Americans, oftentimes from northern areas of the city, and they try to shake them down. They make false allegations, threats against them, and their hope is that somebody is going to be weak enough to roll over and provide information to them.” According to RT, along with Hawkins, the lawsuit names, “St. Louis Police Chief Sam Dotson, the city of St. Louis and two other SLMPD officers who were involved in the traffic stop and subsequent investigation.”

Going further, Hollingshead stated, “This is one of the most corrupt police departments in the country. They just don’t learn…I know Kayla’s hope is that a jury finally hits the city with a big enough number so the city says ‘OK, fine. We’re going to stop doing this.’”

In a statement provided by Robinson, she writes, “Because of my treatment by the police, I immediately realized that I could not work for a team that treats people differently because of their race…It breaks my heart that, since my police encounter, my own five-year-old daughter has told me that she only sees police as taking people to jail, not her friend.” Robinson has reportedly decided to become a teacher instead of pursuing a career in law enforcement.

Lawsuits like Robinson’s have continued to place an unnecessary tax burden on citizens for the mindless and reckless actions of a few police officers. The failed war on drugs leads police officers to not only violate citizens’ fourth amendment rights, but also violates their human dignity and self-respect.

No citizen of such a capable country should have to endure any types of roadside cavity searches at the hands of peace officers, no matter the circumstances — and especially in the immoral war on drugs. The incident is dehumanizing, demoralizing, and works against establishing trust between the community and the police.

What must be going through a cop’s mind as they publicly rape someone in search of an arbitrary substance deemed illegal by the state? How can someone sleep at night knowing they publicly raped someone, who had harmed no one, in search of a plant?

If tomorrow, the government declared that coffee was illegal, it seems preposterous to think that police would enforce such an immoral law. However, if history is any indicator, we could expect cops, nationwide, to begin kicking down doors and destroying homes in the name of illegal coffee — and society wouldn’t think twice — as they are just doing their jobs.