Dashcam footage shows black woman being 'raped' by Texas police officers, claims lawyer
'When you stick your fingers in somebody without their effective consent, that’s rape in any state that I know of'
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Your support makes all the difference.Dashcam video has been released reportedly showing a black woman being sexually assaulted by police officers in Texas.
23-year-old Charneshia Corley claims a female officer put her fingers into the suspect’s vagina during a body search that lasted for around 11 minutes.
Her lawyer, Sam Cammack, has now released footage that he says shows Ms Corley being “raped”.
“When you stick your fingers in somebody without their effective consent, that’s rape in any state that I know of,” he said.
Mr Cammack released the video, recorded by the police car’s camera, after the two Harris Country officers involved in the incident were cleared of wrongdoing by a grand jury earlier this month and allowed to remain in their jobs.
Ms Corley, then aged 20, was stopped by police in June 2015 after allegedly jumping a stop sign and failing to use indicators when turning. The newly-released video shows her being handcuffed outside the car and then searched after officers said they had smelt marijuana.
She is then forced to the ground, naked from the waist down having had her underwear ripped off, and searched by a female officer, during which, Ms Corley alleges, the officer inserted her fingers into the suspect’s vagina.
When she protested, Ms Corley says she was violently thrown to the ground and pinned down with her legs spread apart. The officer allegedly then threatened to break her legs and once again tried to search her vagina for drugs.
Mr Cammack told Fox 26 News the officer had “body slammed Ms Corley, stuck her head underneath the vehicle and completely pulled her pants off, leaving her naked and exposed in that Texaco parking lot”.
He added: “They then took Ms Corley and placed both ankles behind her ears spread eagle position and started to search for something in Miss Corley’s cavity in her vaginal area.”
Ms Corley was arrested and charged with possessing 0.02 ounces of marijuana and resisting arrest but the charges were later dropped. Mr Cammack denied his client had been carrying drugs.
A federal civil rights trial relating to the incident is set to begin in January.
Harris County prosecutor Natasha Sinclair said the officers had been wrong to carry out the search in the way they did but had not necessarily committed a crime.
“No one in this office stands by the search the way it was conducted,” Ms Sinclair said. “No one condones that. No one thinks it’s appropriate. It should not have happened.
“[But] bad decisions, bad judgement, may not rise to the level of criminal offence.”
Ms Corley said she felt “disgusted” after the incident. "
“I feel like they sexually assaulted me! I really do. I feel disgusted, downgraded, humiliated," she told ABC13.
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