DENVER—A Jefferson County sheriff who strip searched a woman arrested on an incorrect warrant isn’t entitled to qualified immunity in a lawsuit claiming civil rights violations, a federal court said Tuesday.
A three-judge panel of the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a lower court’s decision denying a claim of immunity by a Jefferson County sheriff’s deputy. Immunity from civil liability is generally granted to government officials doing their jobs if they didn’t violate the law or someone’s constitutional rights.
The judges found that Mercedes Archuleta, who is suing over the April 2005 incident, demonstrated that her constitutional rights were violated.
A spokeswoman for the sheriff’s department didn’t return a call after business hours.
Archuleta, a mother of nine, was arrested when the van driven by her husband was pulled over for a routine traffic stop, according to court records. She was arrested after giving the officer her driver’s license because her name was the same as a woman suspected of domestic violence.
Archuleta was frisked at the Jefferson County jail, where Deputy D.L. Mandelko told a receptionist that the woman didn’t have the moles and tattoos that files said the suspect had, according to records. But the deputy processed and strip searched Archuleta anyway, according to the court.
Archuleta was placed in a cell by herself for several hours.
The federal judges rejected the deputy’s argument that the strip search was reasonable because Archuleta was charged with a violent crime. They said the arrest warrant was for a municipal harassment violation out of Lakewood.
The judges added that Mandelko couldn’t have reasonably suspected that Archuleta had a weapon because the woman was frisked three times and was wearing shorts and a sleeveless blouse. They said security is more of a concern if a suspect is placed with the general prison population, but that Archuleta was held in a cell by herself.
Archuleta’s lawsuit seeks an undetermined amount of money from the Lakewood detective who drew up the warrant, the state trooper who arrested her, the deputy and Jefferson County Sheriff Ted Mink.
