Lexington attorney sues Clay Co. officials over strip search at jail
By Bill Estep
Lexington Herald-Leader
Jail employees in Clay County strip-searched a Fayette County woman without justification and made racial slurs after she was arrested at a public pool with a biracial child, the woman has charged in a federal lawsuit.
One female guard subjected Jennifer C. Philpot to a rough, painful rectal and vaginal cavity search even though there was no cause to suspect she was hiding contraband, the lawsuit said.
When the first guard found nothing, a second female officer said, "Well I think we better check this n----- lover one more time just to be sure," then roughly searched her again, Philpot swore in the complaint. Attorneys representing Philpot filed the lawsuit Friday in U.S. District Court in London.
The defendants are Jailer Kenny Price and the two guards, whose names were not known; former Judge-Executive Carl "Crawdad" Sizemore and six current or former magistrates; and a former police chief and two officers.
Price was not available for comment Tuesday.
The incident allegedly happened last June after Philpot went to a city-run pool in Manchester with her 12-year-old daughter and two of the daughter's friends, also 12, and Philpot's 10-year-old son.
Philpot is an attorney who practices part-time and teaches at Eastern Kentucky University. She was in Clay County to visit her mother, the suit said.
There was a private party scheduled at the pool that evening, but a lifeguard told Philpot she and the children could swim until the event started.
Soon after, people coming for the party asked Philpot to leave.
Philpot said she would and started gathering the children's toys, but one man apparently didn't think she was going quickly enough, ordering her again to leave and to take the "n----- child" with her, according to the lawsuit.
Philpot left with the children soon after, but two police officers were waiting for her in the parking lot.
Officer George Stewart told Philpot that people at the private party had said she was impaired.
Philpot denied that and passed several field sobriety tests. However, as the guests at the party looked on and the children cried, Philpot, distracted, failed the final test of standing on one foot, the lawsuit said.
Stewart did a portable breath test that he said showed she was drunk. However, Stewart and Officer Russell Smith should have known the reading was not correct, the lawsuit said.
Philpot and the children had been at church practicing a hymn for two hours before going to the pool, the lawsuit said.
The officers arrested Philpot on a charge of alcohol intoxication, the lawsuit said.
The arrest was not justified, the lawsuit charges.
At the jail, employees made racist comments to Philpot and within her hearing, including that she probably had "a lot of n----- music" on her iPod, the lawsuit alleges.
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1 comment:
I grew up in Harlan County, figuratively as well as literally. It's not the place but it is the way you choose to exist within that place. I am sorry for the really good people of Clay County who are also victims of these ignorant, vile people.
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