City of Milwaukee faces liability for illegal strip-searches

Recently, a jury in Milwaukee, Wisconsin awarded the victim of an unlawful stop, frisk and strip-search more than $500,000.  In that case, Leo Hardy filed suit against the City of Milwaukee and two police officers who searched him.  Hardy claimed that he had been walking on the sidewalk, near his mother’s house, when two Milwaukee police officers stopped him for no reason.  Once the officers detained him, Hardy claimed they patted him down, then one of the officers stuck his hands inside Hardy’s underwear and touched his buttocks.  Hardy claimed that he was so terrified by what occurred that he ran from the officers.

Defending the suit, the officers argued that Hardy had been reported by a nearby security guard as a suspicions person, who was with a person suspected of trespassing.  One officer claimed that, as he approached Hardy, he smelled marijuana, which justified detaining and searching Hardy.  The other officer denied smelling marijuana.  Ultimately, the jury found that the entire stop and search of Mr. Hardy was unlawful.  The jury awarded Mr. Hardy $6,000 in damages for the unlawful stop and search and $500,000 in punitive damages.

The City of Milwaukee is facing huge potential liability as a result of its police department’s policy of stopping, frisking and illegally searching citizens.  More than 50 lawsuits have been filed against the city alleging that police officers subjected the plaintiffs to unlawful strip-searches and body cavity searches.  Mr. Hardy’s case is the first of those cases to reach a jury.

See more about Mr. Hardy’s suit and the additional suits against Milwaukee at: Milwaukee Journal Sentinel; Milwaukee Journal Sentinel 2.