Was a Man Forced Into 'Medical Anal Rape'?

Well, this isn't normal. New Mexico police ordered repeated anal probes for a man stopped for a minor traffic violation. The man, David Eckert, was pulled over by police in the city of Deming in Jan. 2013 after he didn't come to a full stop at a stop sign. When the officers asked him to get out of the car, Eckert allegedly stood with his legs together in a way that led the officers to believe he was hiding something in his anal cavity. That's when Eckert's harrowing ordeal began.

The officers quickly got a warrant to search the cavity (which, by the way, didn't seem to cover medical procedures), and took Eckert to a local hospital. There, he was subjected to eight medical procedures to make sure he wasn't hiding anything, including an x-ray and a colonoscopy, to which he vocally objected. Plus, several of those procedures took place after the warrant expired at 10 p.m.

KOB 4 has a roundup of what exactly happened to Eckert, which you probably shouldn't read while eating:

1. Eckert's abdominal area was x-rayed; no narcotics were found.

2. Doctors then performed an exam of Eckert's anus with their fingers; no narcotics were found.

3. Doctors performed a second exam of Eckert's anus with their fingers; no narcotics were found.

4. Doctors penetrated Eckert's anus to insert an enema. Eckert was forced to defecate in front of doctors and police officers. Eckert watched as doctors searched his stool. No narcotics were found.

5. Doctors penetrated Eckert's anus to insert an enema a second time. Eckert was forced to defecate in front of doctors and police officers. Eckert watched as doctors searched his stool. No narcotics were found.

6. Doctors penetrated Eckert's anus to insert an enema a third time. Eckert was forced to defecate in front of doctors and police officers. Eckert watched as doctors searched his stool. No narcotics were found.

7. Doctors then x-rayed Eckert again; no narcotics were found.

8. Doctors prepared Eckert for surgery, sedated him, and then performed a colonoscopy where a scope with a camera was inserted into Eckert's anus, rectum, colon, and large intestines. No narcotics were found.

"This is like something out of a science fiction film, anal probing by government officials and public employees," said his attorney, Shannon Kennedy.

Of course, our sympathy for Kennedy and her client was dampened when she made some race-baity comments. "Maybe the officers who did this don't like him living in their community," she said. "He's a white boy, a scraggly white boy, and all these officers are Hispanic. It's a New Mexico thing." Really, Eckert? This is the lawyer you hire to represent you? At least she sees dollar signs in all the right places. “This is essentially medical anal rape, numerous times over a 12-hour period. I can't imagine anything more horrifying than what happened to our client. It's just sadistic,” Kennedy said.

And then, to add insult to injury, Eckert was billed for his humiliation. The hospital is threatening to pursue legal action against Eckert if he doesn't cough up the dough — $6000 — which of course, he doesn't plan on doing. Eckert is suing a host of actors involved in this fiasco, including, "the city of Deming, Hidalgo County, the police officers behind the incident, the deputy district attorney, and the Gila Regional Medical Center, including Robert Wilcox, M.D and Okay Odocha, M.D.," according to RT.

It seems to us that this is the sort of stuff that’s supposed to be covered under our constitutional right to privacy. After all, if that right doesn’t cover invasive medical procedures that involve sending a camera up your butt with an expired and questionable warrant, what’s the point?