Two Women Say Police Forced Them to Strip
N E W Y O R K, Jan. 4 -- A second Long Island woman has come forward with allegations that a Suffolk County police officer forced her to strip naked because he said she failed a drunken driving test.
The latest allegation, from 20-year-old Juliana Rubio, comes one day after Angelina Torres, 27, said Officer Frank Wright forced her to walk home in her underwear in below-freezing temperatures after she failed a Breathalyzer test on New Year’s Eve.
Wright, a nine-year veteran assigned to the highway patrolbureau, was placed on administrative duty Jan. 1 pending the outcomeof an investigation.
Gary Gramer, an attorney representing Torres in a $15 million lawsuit against the county and the police department, said Rubio called his office Wednesday.
Rubio did not know the officer’s name, Gramer said, but her description of the officer involved matched Wright’s.
Gramer notified police of Rubio’s complaint and filed a second lawsuit against the police and the county, asking for $15 million in punitive damages for Rubio.
Suffolk County police today confirmed investigations are being conducted into both cases.
“The investigations are still going on and they are following the regular course,” said Lt. William Rohrer, spokesman for the Suffolk County Police Department.
A third woman also made similar claims, according to a newspaper report. Newsday said the accusation came from an anonymous caller who said an officer had also told her to strip but she refused.
Rohrer said he could not confirm the report.
‘The Most Humiliating Experience’
After having a fight with her boyfriend on New Year’s Eve, Torres lefta bar in New Jersey without him. She drove to Long Island but pulled over to the side of the highway to cry, she said.
Wright pulled up to check on her. After she admittedshe had had two glasses of champagne, Torres said, he administeredthree different sobriety tests. He said she failed one, handcuffedher and placed her in the back of his patrol car, her attorneysaid.
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