A woman who says she was twice wrongfully subjected to cavity searches by a female Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputy at the plaintiff’s Pico Rivera home that left the plaintiff injured has reached a tentative $1.75 million settlement of her suit, subject to approval by the Board of Supervisors.
Santa Monica Superior Court Judge Bobbi Tillmon halted the trial of Leticia Sanchez’s lawsuit during jury deliberations on Aug. 25 after the two sides announced they had reached an accord. The judge then dismissed the panel.
According to the negligence/civil rights suit brought in December 2018, Sanchez was at her home when on Nov. 1, 2017, when deputies arrived to serve a search warrant. Deputy Deanna Ballesteros allegedly approached Sanchez and ordered her to submit to a cavity search to see if she had illegal drugs.
“Over plaintiff’s objection and assertion of her constitutional rights, Ballesteros used her hands to perform a cavity search of plaintiff’s (private parts),” the suit states.
Ballesteros “reacted with rage” when she found no narcotics and, once again over protests by Sanchez, searched the plaintiff in the same manner a second time, the suit states.
“During the second search, Ballesteros used an unknown object to manually probe into plaintiff’s private parts,” according to the suit, which further states that the interior wall of Sanchez’s private parts were ripped, leaving a large wound.
Sanchez screamed, ”You’re hurting me,” but Ballesteros did not stop the search, according to the suit, which also alleges that Ballesteros also kept Sanchez handcuffed and wrongfully delayed getting her medical assistance.
In their court papers, county attorneys stated that Ballesteros did a “cursory pat-down search” of Sanchez, then conducted two more such probes, but that no cavity invasion was performed by the deputy.