The “brutal and physically invasive” removal of a package containing cocaine during a body-cavity search of a suspected drug dealer without a warrant violated his Fourth Amendment rights, a federal appeals court has ruled.
Mark Tyrell Fowlkes, appealing his conviction on drug charges, claimed that police officers lacking medical training or a warrant forcibly removed a plastic bag of cocaine during the search at a jail in Long Beach, Calif., in violation of his right against unreasonable searches and seizures.
