Torture is torture. It's not something you can spin. Regrettably, we live in a culture that has been doing just that for the past 9 years. That the tactics of brutalization and sexual humiliation we've visited on other countries are now perpetrated in our own communities was merely a matter of time.
Four years ago, a woman in rural Ohio named Hope Steffey was assaulted by a family member. She did what citizens are supposed to do and called the police. She had been knocked unconscious in the initial attack and was disoriented. After some confusion resulting from her state of shock, it was she who was arrested instead of the assailant. The arresting officer injured her back and her face and cracked her teeth. She was later violently stripped naked by both female and male officers. There are many questions surrounding the behavior of all the officials involved. Dash-cam footage does "not exist" prior to Steffey being placed in the cruiser.
We continue to tolerate this at our peril.
From reporting by WKYC at the time:
"When a Stark County deputy arrived, he asked for Steffey's driver's license. She accidentally turned over her dead sister's license, which she said she keeps in her wallet as a memento, the lawsuit says. The deputy refused to give the license back and told Steffey to "shut up about your dead sister," according to her attorney.
The sheriff denied that in a written response to the lawsuit."
This is where the missing section of the dash-cam video would be most helpful. Please note that the video is blank from the shortly before the officer arrived on the original scene until Mrs. Steffey was placed in the vehicle.
"Eventually, Steffey was arrested and taken to the Stark County Jail. She was later charged with disorderly conduct and resisting arrest."
Hope Steffey was convicted. The police produced only two written statements from witnesses that evening in spite of the fact that there were many others present. One of those statements was from her attacker.
"After her clothes were removed, she was locked in a cell. To stay warm, she wrapped herself in toilet paper. She remained in the cell for six hours.
During that time, she was not allowed to use a phone or seek medical attention for injuries she suffered that night, including a cracked tooth, bulging disc and bruises, the lawsuit says."The Steffey's suit was settled out of court. A grand jury declined to indict any of the law enforcement officers involved.
In a rather stunning turn of events, the officers who committed the assault sued television station WKYC which produced the report above. Their claim was that the news coverage constituted a "violation of their privacy." The suit was later dropped.
In the wake of the publicity surrounding Mrs. Steffey's experience, as is common with cases of this kind, there have been more allegations by other women charging that they too were degraded in the same manner.
National media took an interest for a time...
And then? The story just went away.
Sheriff Timothy A Swanson, who is still in office as of this writing, has said that they "did everything by the book." It begs the question of whether or not "the book" he is referring to was in it's original German.
Below is the prison cell video that the police eventually released as "proof" of Mrs. Steffey's "abusive" and "dangerous" behavior prior to the assault. You will notice that Mrs. Steffey was docile and cuffed from behind at that time.
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