Federal suit against Bella Villa police chief alleges pelvic tattoo
Wednesday, June 27th, 2007Jami Neco Schmidt, 22, filed a federal suit against Chief Edward Locke Jr., 28, and the south St. Louis County town that is set for trial in August. Locke, who still serves as police chief, acknowledges the arrest but says he never photographed Schmidt’s tattoo.
According to her complaint, Schmidt was a passenger in a car Locke pulled over in June 2005. She admits to telling Locke her name was Samantha Smith and to giving him a false birth date and Social Security number. Locke arrested her for providing false identification and for possessing alcohol as a minor. She was 20 at the time.
When they got back to the Bella Villa police station, Locke asked Schmidt whether she had any tattoos, according to her lawsuit. When she told him she had a tattoo in her pubic area, Locke gave her a Polaroid camera and directed her to go to the bathroom to take a picture of it, Schmidt said in her complaint. Not satisfied with Schmidt’s photograph, Locke told her to lower her pants so he could photograph the tattoo, she alleged. He then took a third photo after directing Schmidt to lower her pants a little more, according to the complaint.
This is a constitutional violation, Schock said, arguing Schmidt had a reasonable expectation of privacy of her pubic area.
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“Defendant Chief Locke’s conduct against Plaintiff Schmidt constituted a ’strip search’ in that it involved the removal and/or rearrangement of clothing which resulted in the exposure and observation of a portion of Plaintiff Schmidt’s body where she had a reasonable expectation of privacy,” Schmidt’s attorney, W. Bevis Schock, argued in the complaint.
Priscilla F. Gunn and Jessica Liss of Rabbit, Pitzer & Snodgrass represent the defendants in the case before Senior District Judge Stephen N. Limbaugh. He is now considering a motion for summary judgment, filed by the defendants in late May. Schmidt filed the suit in February 2006.