MAN TESTIFIES POLICE VIOLATED HIS RIGHTS IN SEARCH FOR DRUGS

When police took 16-year-old Damien Williams to a fire station to be
strip-searched, he was told "we can do this the hard way or we can do this
the easy way," Williams said Monday.

Williams testified in his civil suit against Houston Police Department
officers Steven C. Rowan and D.M. Knapp that he was scared he would be
beaten if he didn't cooperate.

On Dec. 20, 1997, Williams said, his legs were kicked apart and Rowan
inserted an index finger into his rectum during a search for drugs as
Williams was bent over a table at Fire Station 44.

Camilo Vargas, then 15, and Danny Joe McGee, then 19, were also taken with
Williams to the station on Maxey Road and strip- and cavity-searched, their
attorney, Kevin Bernard Howard, said during his opening statement.

The trio sued Rowan and Knapp in 1999 for violation of their Fourth
Amendment rights barring unlawful search. The city, a firefighter and
Police Chief C.O. Bradford were dismissed from the suit in August.

Richard H. Cobb, attorney for the officers, said an "internal anal search"
was not conducted and that the officers had probable cause to perform the
strip searches.

The officers picked up the trio in the 12000 block of Fleming and took them
to the fire station, where the officers were provided with rubber gloves.

A search found crack cocaine concealed in McGee's rectum, Howard said, and
he was charged and served time.

No drugs were found on Williams or Vargas, who were released.

Rowan testified it is not normal procedure to take suspects to a fire
station to be searched. However, he denied conducting a cavity search,
saying HPD policy requires a warrant and someone trained to do such a search.

Williams insisted that while he did not see Rowan's hand, the search was
invasive and he has since been troubled by the experience.

"I have to live with this for the rest of my life," he said.

But he said during cross-examination he had not sought medical or
psychological help.

McGee, now 23, testified it's customary for drug users to conceal drugs
inside the mouth or rectum to avoid detection by police.

He said he had planned to sell the crack when the trio were picked up by
Rowan and Knapp. During the search, he said, the officers found the cocaine
in his rectum and removed it.

The bag was likely visible between his buttocks, and no invasive act was
needed to remove it, McGee said.