Grandma says she was 'sexually humiliated' in police 'torture warehouse'
A woman was taken in a warehouse and forced to "spread open her vagina and buttocks" in a vulgar strip search by police officers, a lawsuit alleges.
The disturbing incident began when Baton Rouge police officers stopped Ternell Brown, a 41-year-old grandmother, as she was riding in a car with her husband. During the traffic stop, officers discovered bottles of medication inside Brown's car, for which Brown said she had a legal prescription, according to the lawsuit. The lawsuit does not specify a reason for the traffic stop or the type of medication.
After finding the prescription medication, the officers allegedly told Brown "We don't know if it's something you bought off the streets, or what?" and forcibly took her to an unmarked warehouse referred to as the "Brave Cave." This warehouse was apparently used by the Baton Rouge Police Department, the lawsuit alleges.
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The unmarked warehouse has allegedly been used by police (NBC News)Inside the "Brave Cave," Ternell Brown claims that she was subjected to physical assault and a strip search by the officers. The lawsuit alleges that she was forced to prove that she was not hiding contraband in her vagina or rectum, in what allegedly was a "sexual humiliation" during which Brown was made to "spread open her vagina and buttocks."
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Brown was allegedly held inside the warehouse for more than two hours during this ordeal. After the extended detention and search, the officers released her without charging her with any crime. The lawsuit accuses the officers involved of violating her civil rights through this incident, which included the alleged assault, strip search, and prolonged detention in the "Brave Cave."
Image from BRPD body camera video, where officers interact with Jeremy Lee (AP)The latest lawsuit comes after further allegations against the Baton Rouge Police Department, regarding the existence of the unmarked warehouse known as the "Brave Cave" where detainees were allegedly subjected to assaults, strip searches, and body cavity searches.
In one case, a man says he was taken to the warehouse and beaten so severely he needed hospital care before being booked into jail. According to a lawsuit filed last month, an officer repeatedly turned off and muted his body camera during his interactions with Jeremy Lee, who ended up hospitalized with broken bones and other injuries. Inside the warehouse, officers punched and kicked him while he screamed for help, the lawsuit alleges. After he was violently interrogated and arrested, the only criminal charge prosecutors pursued against Lee was resisting arrest.
Officers hold Jeremy Lee inside a warehouse in Baton Rouge (AP)Shortly after Lee’s lawsuit, Baton Rouge Mayor Sharon Weston Broome ordered the warehouse closed, saying she was previously unaware of the facility’s existence. The FBI is conducting a federal investigation into the case. FBI officials confirmed Friday that the agency has opened an investigation based on “allegations that members of the department may have abused their authority.”
This latest scandal adds to a long list of corruption and misconduct allegations plaguing the Baton Rouge Police Department, which came under significant scrutiny following the 2016 fatal police shooting of Alton Sterling, a 37-year-old Black man. In 2021, a corruption probe into the department’s narcotics division led to criminal charges and internal discipline against officers accused of stealing drugs from evidence and lying on police reports.
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