Mom strip-searched, jailed for 15 hours for not showing ID at her home, lawsuit says
A woman was wrongfully arrested, strip-searched and jailed for 15 hours because she refused to show a police officer her ID at her own home, an Alabama lawsuit says.
Twyla Stallworth and her son filed the lawsuit April 24 in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Alabama, Northern Division.
The pair seek damages from an officer with the Andalusia Police Department and the city itself, citing constitutional rights violations.
McClatchy News tried to contact the officer and the city for comment but did not immediately receive a response on April 25.
‘That is not the law’
On Feb. 23, Stallworth called the police to report a noise complaint, then set off her own car alarm to get her neighbor’s attention, McClatchy News previously reported.
Cop arrests woman at her home for not showing ID, attorney says. Now mayor apologizes
When Andalusia police Officer Grant Barton spoke with the woman about setting off her alarm, he asked to see her ID, Stallworth said in the lawsuit.
She refused.
A five-minute video recorded by Stallworth’s son shows Barton enter their home, push the woman on the couch, and put her in handcuffs as her son yells in protest.
The lawsuit says the officer used excessive force in his arrest and also physically assaulted her son “by pushing forcefully” past him to enter the home.
As Barton led Stallworth out of the home, her son asked him on camera the reason for her arrest.
“Right now she’s under arrest for failure to identify,” Barton was heard saying on the video.
“That is not the law, that’s against the law,” Stallworth said.
When her son asked to see the specific statute, the officer took out his phone and pulled up Alabama code section 15-5-30, which allows a law enforcement officer to stop a person in a public place if they suspect the person of committing a crime and demand the person’s “name, address and an explanation of his actions,” according to the code.
“I don’t see where it says anything about an ID,” her son said in the video.
The officer said he wasn’t going to argue, and he took away Stallworth in his patrol car.
When the woman arrived at Covington County Jail, she said she was “subjected to a humiliating mugshot and degrading strip search.”
She was imprisoned for more than 15 hours and kept in a cold jail cell until she was able to post bond of $3,035, she said. She was charged with obstruction, eluding and resisting arrest, according to the lawsuit.
After the incident, Stallworth secured an attorney, and her son’s video began circulating online, gaining more than 18,000 views on YouTube.
‘In bad faith’
Stallworth said she wasn’t required to show her ID, and she was right, according to the statute Barton referenced.
The city of Andalusia mayor acknowledged the error in an apology video two weeks later.
Mayor Earl Johnson said Barton had been disciplined for not knowing the law and added officers would be trained on the law to avoid similar situations in the future.
The charges were dropped, and Stallworth said she got her bond money back.
The lawsuit now accuses Barton of acting “willfully, maliciously, in bad faith and in reckless disregard of Ms. Stallworth’s federally protected constitutional rights.”
He didn’t have reason to believe she had or was going to commit a crime or public offense, and he unlawfully arrested her contrary to her Fourth Amendment rights, the lawsuit said.
The mother and son also said they continue to suffer emotional distress and flashbacks to the event.
The lawsuit cites both the officer and city of Andalusia on accusations of false arrest, false imprisonment and assault/battery. The city was liable for Barton’s “lack of skills or carelessness,” according to the lawsuit.
The family is seeking compensatory and punitive damages but didn’t specify a dollar amount.
Andalusia is in southern Alabama, about a 90-mile drive south from Montgomery.
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