Mother’s lawsuit alleges police sexually harassed teen daughter during traffic stop

Published 8:10 am Thursday, December 5, 2019

Police officers of a Mississippi city are accused of sexually harassing a teen girl during a traffic stop.

The girl’s mother is now suing the city of Biloxi in the hopes of preventing other girls from suffering the same treatment, The Sun Herald reported.

The lawsuit alleges that the the pajama-clad girl was driving to pick up her older sister from a casino one night in July 2018 when she was pulled over.

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The girl was ordered out of her car, where several male officers told her to keep her hands down “in a blatant attempt to look at her breasts” and made inappropriate sexual remarks, it says.

After consenting to a field sobriety test, the girl was arrested on charges including driving under the influence of a substance other than alcohol, driving without a license, driving with an expired tag and a traffic violation.

Police say she was initially pulled over for running a red light.

A drug and alcohol screening taken at a hospital after the girl’s arrest showed no drugs or alcohol in her system, the lawsuit says. The DUI charge was dropped soon after the arrest.

The lawsuit, which has been moved from state to federal court, accuses the officers and city of false arrest and imprisonment, sexual harassment and other offenses. It seeks unspecified damages.

Biloxi denies any wrongdoing or that any sexual harassment occurred. The city has said the girl was ordered to keep her hands at her side in order to perform a field sobriety test.

The officers involved in the traffic stop have not been identified. Police Chief John Miller said he could not comment because the lawsuit is pending.