Woman whose used tampon was pulled out by police officer in drug search could get £150,000 in compensation

Male detectives stand nearby as woman told: ‘Spread your legs’

Natalie Simms was in shock as she stood, hands raised, on the dimly lighted side street in San Antonio, Texas.

A police officer looking for drugs had failed to find anything after combing through her pockets – but much to Ms Simms’ horror, the search was not over.

“Spread your legs,” the officer allegedly told her.

On 8 August, 2016, Ms Simms was subjected to a public vaginal cavity search during which her tampon was pulled out in view of male police officers and others nearby, according to a federal lawsuit filed last year in the western district of Texas.

Ms Simms sued the city of San Antonio and now-retired San Antonio Police Department detective Mara Wilson for unspecified damages, alleging the act was a “blatant violation” of her constitutional rights, and resulted “in significant and lasting harm”.

“Natalie suffered through a shocking display of what can occur when police power is unchecked,” Dean Malone, an attorney for Ms Simms, told WOAI in 2018. “We intend to seek full damages available under the law and look forward to presenting Natalie’s horrible experience to a jury.”

Now it appears the legal battle may be ending differently than how Mr Malone envisioned. The city is scheduled to vote on Thursday on a proposed settlement that would award $205,000 (£159,000) to Ms Simms, according to an official agenda.

Ms Simms and her lawyer have agreed to the sum, the San Antonio Express-News reported.

The potential payout is not the first of its kind in Texas. Last January, officials in Harris County paid $185,000 (£144,000) to a Houston woman who alleged in a federal lawsuit that her constitutional rights were violated when two sheriff’s deputies performed a cavity search on her near a bustling convenience store, the Houston Chronicle reported at the time.

In that case, the settlement drew backlash from the woman’s lawyers and advocates, who decried the amount as “an injustice”.

The San Antonio Police Department, the San Antonio City Attorney’s Office and lawyers for Ms Simms did not respond to requests for comment late on Tuesday.

According to the lawsuit, her troubles began as she sat on a curb on that August night waiting for her boyfriend. Ms Simms was perched near the street, talking on her mobile phone when police officers descended, the suit said.

It was later revealed that officers had been investigating the area after receiving complaints about possible drug activity, the Express-News reported. A police detective reportedly said he had seen Ms Simms, who has a criminal record, and another woman walk beneath a highway underpass where they appeared to sell drugs.

First, police obtained consent to search Ms Simms’ car, which she gave “knowing that she had done nothing wrong”, court documents said.

Meanwhile, a female officer was called to the scene to search her and it was not long before Ms Wilson, a department veteran, arrived.

After looking through her clothing and finding nothing, Ms Wilson, who allegedly did not have a warrant at the time, asked if she could remove the woman’s shorts, making small talk as she continued the search.

“Officer Wilson was initially talking as if she were sitting down and having a cup of coffee with Natalie,” the lawsuit said. “Unfortunately, this was not a meeting over coffee, and Officer Wilson’s decision as to how to conduct the search was about to take a turn for the worse.”

The officer instructed Ms Simms to “spread your legs”, according to a transcript of dash-cam footage included in the lawsuit. She added: ”I’m gonna ask you, do you have anything down here before I reach down here?”

Ms Simms said she did not and expressed alarm about her intent to examine her vagina, noting that she was on her period. Armed with a flashlight, the officer said she planned only to look, not touch, and “pulled open Natalie’s pants and underwear”, the complaint said. Five other officers, all of whom were men, were nearby.

That is when Ms Wilson noticed the tampon string and pulled.

“Officer Wilson did so knowing that Natalie was on her period, and also knowing and seeing that Natalie had a menstrual pad in place,” the lawyers wrote.

Still, Ms Wilson repeatedly asked Ms Simms to confirm she was using a tampon.

“It’s full of blood, right?” she said. “Why would you do that?”

“I don’t know,” the officer responded. “It looked like it had stuff in there.”

Ignoring Ms Simms’s protests that she did not have contraband, Ms Wilson continued her search, at one point even remarking “you’re very hairy”, the suit alleged.

Then, the officer told Ms Simms to turn around and spread her legs again. There was another place she had yet to look.

“Officer Wilson had violated Natalie vaginally, and now it appeared that she might violate Natalie anally,” the suit said. “She was doing so without a warrant, with no medical personnel present, and on a public street in view of several people as well as those passing by.”

The woman asked multiple times if she could be taken to a police station but her requests were disregarded.

“If you don’t have nothing, you don’t have anything to worry about, okay, but these are all the places that everybody hides stuff, so this is where we have to search,” Ms Wilson told her, according to the transcript.

Ms Wilson later testified she has recovered plastic bags containing drugs, such as marijuana, cocaine and heroin, tied with string from people’s crotches.

It is unclear if Ms Wilson proceeded with the cavity search. The complaint said Ms Simms ultimately left in her own car after officers did not find anything illegal in her possession.

“Even though Natalie was allowed to leave the scene, a part of her dignity and self-worth was left behind,” the lawsuit said.

Officials said Ms Wilson “did nothing that violated any of the City’s procedures by searching Ms Simms in the manner she searched her”.

Instead of facing serious punishment such as termination, a notation was made in Ms Wilson’s personnel file, the lawsuit alleged.

She retired in May 2017, about nine months after her encounter with Ms Simms, as a 32-year veteran of the department.

The Washington Post