DRUG SUSPECTS COMPLAIN POLICE KEPT WOMAN CUFFED, NAKED

Brunswick Hills Township - A former police constable's son and his
fiancee want a judge to free them from drug charges, citing what they
call "outrageous police conduct."

Steven DePaolo, 45, said police cracked his tooth and forced his
girlfriend, Ann Grunder, 34, to stand handcuffed and naked among male
officers who broke open his father's door at 5:30 a.m. April 13 in
search of them.

DePaolo and Grunder are charged with trafficking in crack cocaine,
charges punishable by a mandatory minimum sentence of two years in
prison.

Police dispute the couple's account of their arrest, detailed in an
unusual legal motion to be argued this morning in Medina County Common
Pleas Court.

"Everything was done right," said Brunswick Hills Township Police
Chief Robert J. Osiecki. "If it was to be done again, I think they
would do it the same way."

DePaolo's lawyer Elizabeth Kelley said police did not need to break
into the home before dawn to find DePaolo - because he was on home
arrest.

"Everything about this incident is outrageous," she said.

Grunder said she was naked for 10 to 20 minutes and asked three times
to get dressed before a male officer put pants and a button-up shirt
on her.

"I was totally embarrassed," she said.

Her lawyer David Gedrock described officers as "gawking voyeurs" who
enjoyed a panoramic view of the nude woman because of mirrors in the
room.

Police said Grunder was handcuffed and naked for no more than two
minutes while officers scanned the room for guns, a routine precaution.

"From what I hear, she wasn't too enjoyable to look at," Osiecki
said.

Told of Osiecki's remark, Grunder said, "Obviously they looked, then,
because they had an opinion about what they saw and they talked about
it."

Brunswick Sgt. Larry Pringle, who directed the Combined Emergency
Response Team, a SWAT-like tactical unit, said police acted
professionally.

"I didn't see anything indecent in the officers' behavior," he
said.

Osiecki said he chose to use the tactical team because the Medina
County Drug Task Force which investigated DePaolo suspected he would
be armed.

Andrew DePaolo, 77, who served as Brunswick Township constable from
1956 to 1966, said he demanded - and got - an apology from the
township police, and the drug task force paid $2,200 to repair his
front door.

"They should have handled this some other way," he said.

But Osiecki said DePaolo misinterepreted the apology.

"He wasn't aware his kid was selling dope. The guy was sitting here
almost in tears in my office," Osiecki said. "I tried to be consoling
a little bit."

Daniel FitzPatrick, who teaches police classes at Kent State
University, said Grunder should have been allowed to dress herself.

"Every effort should be made to protect the dignity of the people you
are arresting," he said. "If the scene is secure, remove her
handcuffs. She obviously didn't have a weapon."