News (Media Awareness Project) - US CA: Woman Wins Court Battle Against U.S. Customs |
| Title: | US CA: Woman Wins Court Battle Against U.S. Customs |
| Published On: | 1998-02-25 |
| Source: | San Francisco Chronicle |
| Fetched On: | 2008-09-07 14:58:02 |
WOMAN WINS COURT BATTLE AGAINST U.S. CUSTOMS
Agents at SFO suspected traveler carried drugs
A woman whose trip around the world turned into a nightmare when she was
strip-searched for drugs and detained for almost 24 hours by federal agents
in San Francisco was awarded $451,000 in damages yesterday.
``No other person should go through this hell,'' said Amanda Buritica
outside of the federal courthouse in San Francisco.
Buritica, a Colombia-born school-crossing guard from Port Chester, N.Y.,
took a trip around the world in 1994 that ended traumatically, she said,
when she arrived at San Francisco International Airport on September 22.
U.S. Customs Service agents suspected Buritica of swallowing and
transporting drugs because she was born in Columbia and was a woman
traveling alone, said her attorney, Gregory Fox.
After searching her luggage, agents conducted a strip-search and, finding
no sign of drugs, had her X-rayed and transported to San Mateo County
hospital, Fox said.
At the hospital, she was given more than a gallon of a powerful laxative to
drink. She defecated repeatedly for 16 hours, Fox said.
``I was very confused and wondering, `Why are these people doing this to
me?'' Buritica recalled.
No drugs were ever found. At the end of the 22-hour ordeal, agents dropped
Buritica off at the airport and released her without an apology or
explanation, Fox said.
Buritica filed a lawsuit in 1995 in U.S. District Court in San Francisco,
charging five customs inspectors with violating her Fourth Amendment
constitutional rights.
After a two-week trial and two days of deliberation, a seven-person jury
awarded Buritica $450,000 in compensatory damages and $1,000 in punitive
damages.
Fox said the case is far from over, however.
He wants the search techniques at SFO to be declared unconstitutional by a
federal judge and litigation is still pending against San Mateo County and
several doctors involved in the case.
Customs officials declined to comment on the case.
Buritica said she can't imagine returning to SFO anytime soon. Her
around-the-world trip -- visiting India, Germany, Singapore and Hong Kong
- -- had been enjoyable until she stepped into the airport's terminal, she
said.
)1998 San Francisco Chronicle Page A14
Agents at SFO suspected traveler carried drugs
A woman whose trip around the world turned into a nightmare when she was
strip-searched for drugs and detained for almost 24 hours by federal agents
in San Francisco was awarded $451,000 in damages yesterday.
``No other person should go through this hell,'' said Amanda Buritica
outside of the federal courthouse in San Francisco.
Buritica, a Colombia-born school-crossing guard from Port Chester, N.Y.,
took a trip around the world in 1994 that ended traumatically, she said,
when she arrived at San Francisco International Airport on September 22.
U.S. Customs Service agents suspected Buritica of swallowing and
transporting drugs because she was born in Columbia and was a woman
traveling alone, said her attorney, Gregory Fox.
After searching her luggage, agents conducted a strip-search and, finding
no sign of drugs, had her X-rayed and transported to San Mateo County
hospital, Fox said.
At the hospital, she was given more than a gallon of a powerful laxative to
drink. She defecated repeatedly for 16 hours, Fox said.
``I was very confused and wondering, `Why are these people doing this to
me?'' Buritica recalled.
No drugs were ever found. At the end of the 22-hour ordeal, agents dropped
Buritica off at the airport and released her without an apology or
explanation, Fox said.
Buritica filed a lawsuit in 1995 in U.S. District Court in San Francisco,
charging five customs inspectors with violating her Fourth Amendment
constitutional rights.
After a two-week trial and two days of deliberation, a seven-person jury
awarded Buritica $450,000 in compensatory damages and $1,000 in punitive
damages.
Fox said the case is far from over, however.
He wants the search techniques at SFO to be declared unconstitutional by a
federal judge and litigation is still pending against San Mateo County and
several doctors involved in the case.
Customs officials declined to comment on the case.
Buritica said she can't imagine returning to SFO anytime soon. Her
around-the-world trip -- visiting India, Germany, Singapore and Hong Kong
- -- had been enjoyable until she stepped into the airport's terminal, she
said.
)1998 San Francisco Chronicle Page A14
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