New Mexico man claims he was anally probed multiple times following routine traffic stop

(UPI) -- New Mexico man David Eckert says that police and medical officials anally probed him several times after he was pulled over for failing to make a complete stop at a stop sign this past January.

Eckert has filed a federal lawsuit against the City of Deming, the Deming Police Department, the Gila Regional Medical Center and deputies from the Hidalgo County Sheriff’s Department claiming that officers from the DPD searched his anal cavity for drugs for no reason.

“They say when he stepped out of his car he was standing in a manner that looked as if he was clinching his buttocks,” said Shannon Kennedy, Eckert’s attorney.

Even though a judge granted a search warrant to perform an anal cavity search on Eckert after he was taken into custody, a doctor at a Deming emergency room refused to do it and said it was “unethical.”

According to the lawsuit, Eckert was then taken to Gila Regional Medical Center, where his abdominal area was x-rayed twice and doctors stuck their fingers in his anus twice. He also received three anal enemas and had a colonoscopy performed. All in all his rectum was probed eight times, but no drugs were ever found.

“This is like something out of a science fiction film,” Kennedy said. “Anal probing by government officials and public employees? I mean it’s absolutely unimaginable that this could happen in America.

Deming Police Chief Brandan Gigante said that his department was simply following the law. “We follow the law in every aspect and follow procedures and protocols we have in place,” Gigante said.