Child abusers.
Mountain View police officers named in lawsuit over traumatic forced exam of 5-year-old's genitalsA Mountain View family filed a federal lawsuit against the city claiming that Mountain View Police Department officers unlawfully forced their 5-year-old daughter to undergo a traumatic sexual assault exam, violating their civil rights and running afoul of department protocol.
The suit, filed on behalf of parents Annie and Douglas Lother last month, seeks a jury trial after three officers showed up at the family's house on Jan. 28 and demanded the child's genitals be examined by a paramedic. Officers reportedly believed the child may have been a victim of sexual abuse.
The child had injured her pubic area three days prior when she fell at a Sky High Sports trampoline park, according to the civil complaint. The injury had healed, but the girl mentioned that her vagina had bled or was bleeding while she was at Landels Elementary School and a teacher or principal made a referral to either Child Protective Services (CPS) or law enforcement. The girl was pulled from class and questioned on Jan. 28.
Later that day, officers -- identified in the suit as Mark Poirier, Mason Motomura and Matthew Rogers -- reportedly pounded on the door of the family's home, entered and refused to explain why they were there, according to the suit. A social worker with the county, identified as Joseph Phan, accompanied the officers and also did not explain the nature of the report that brought them there -- a requirement under California law.
The girl was separated from her mother and questioned in the front yard in plain view of the public, the lawsuit states. She told officers that she had injured herself at a trampoline park and, after minutes of interrogation, started to whine and told them she didn't want to answer any more questions. According to the suit, Poirier is heard on a police body camera recording saying that the concerns of possible sexual abuse seemed "more and more unfounded," and that the injuries were innocent in nature.
After asking several probing questions to Douglas Lother, including how he disciplines his daughters and if there was "anything more" he could tell officers to understand "a little bit more about the situation," the officers gave an ultimatum: allow a paramedic to inspect the child's genitals or have her forcibly transported to Santa Clara Valley Medical Center for an examination.
The suit states that the parents tried multiple times to offer alternatives, including a trip to a physician to verify the injury was not serious and healing. Danielle Lother also offered contact information for witnesses who could corroborate the story that the girl injured herself at a trampoline park.
The Lothers say they were forced to hold down their child and pull off her clothes for the paramedic while she was kicking and crying. The paramedic commented that she couldn't see without better lighting, leading Douglas Lother to pull out the flashlight on his phone to assist in the examination.
"In a nightmarish moment of his life, Douglas (Lother) actually found himself holding a flashlight with one hand, pointed at his daughter's private parts, while he and his wife were holding down their struggling, screaming, crying 5-year-old daughter, as a stranger was putting her fingers on his child's labia and spreading the outer folds of the labia with her fingers to visually inspect them in the bright light of a flashlight held by Douglas," according to the suit.
https://www.mv-voice.com/news/2019/10/15/mountain-view-police-officers-named-in-lawsuit-over-traumatic-forced-exam-of-5-year-olds-genitals