A video of an Aiken, South Carolina police officer has surfaced depicting a series of illegal searches conducted during a routine traffic stop, one which included an anal cavity search. The incident was captured on the police dash cam.
After pulling over a young Black couple for having temporary tags, Officer Chris Medlin of the Aiken Department of Public Safety asks the driver to get out, then tells her he stopped her because of the “paper tag” on her car. There is, however, no law against temporary tags in South Carolina as long as they haven’t expired.
Several minutes later, Medlin tells the driver her license and tags check out. This should have been the end of the stop.
Instead, Medlin orders the man out of the vehicle and handcuffs him. He also orders the female driver out of the car. The man repeatedly asks the officers what is happening. Medlin responds he’ll “explain it all in a minute.” Several minutes later, a female officers appears. Medlin then tells the man, “Because of your history, I’ve got a dog coming in here. Gonna walk a dog around the car.” About 30 seconds later, he adds, “You gonna pay for this one, boy.”
After the search of the car comes up empty, Medlin tells a female officer to “search her real good,” referring to the driver. The personal search of the woman is conducted off camera, but according to the complaint filed, it allegedly involved exposing her breasts on the side of the road in a populated area. The complaint also alleges this was all done in direct view of three male officers. That search, too, produced no contraband.
The officers then turn their attention to the male passenger. Medlin asks him to get out of the car. He cuffs him and begins to pat him down. Toward the end of the first video, he accuses the man of having something between his legs. Medlin says that he’s going to “put some gloves on.”
The anal probe happens out of direct view of the camera, but the audio leaves little doubt about what’s happening.
Aiken public information officer Capt. David Turno said the incident has already been investigated. Medlin, unfortunately, still works for the police department. In response to further queries about the incident, he wrote in an email, “The City of Aiken denies the Plaintiffs’ allegations and is vigorously defending this lawsuit. We will have no further comment about the facts of this case during the pendency of this litigation.”
