Multiple white police officers performed an illegal and humiliating cavity search on a black man on the side of the road in South Carolina during an unwarranted traffic stop, according to a video and a bombshell lawsuit.
Elijah Pontoon was victim to the mortifying probe after cops pulled over the car his girlfriend, Lakeye Hicks, was driving near downtown Aiken, S.C. because the recently-purchased vehicle had temporary tags.
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Driving with temporary tags isn’t illegal so long as they are not expired, according to
the Washington Post, which was first to report on the lawsuit filed in September, 2015 as part of a series on police abuse in South Carolina.
Aiken Police Officer Chris Medlin and his fellow officers almost immediately handcuffed Pontoon after they run their identifications and found that the tags check out, shocking police video of the Oct. 2, 2014 traffic stop shows.
While cops gave no reason to search the couple or their car, the pair dutifully allowed them to, although at one point Pontoon says “this is just harassment,”
the suit says.
The officers eventually allude to Pontoon’s “past history” as a reason for the aggressive search and tells him that “You’re going to pay for this one, boy,” before they instruct a dog to sniff the car.
