A Detroit father says he was humiliated and horrified when a local police officer performed a body cavity search on him.
7 Investigator Heather Catallo has obtained the exclusive video of what happened inside that Allen Park Police jail cell
“You can’t do that,” says Kevin Campbell on video captured inside the police lock-up on June 7, 2016.
“Yes, I can. Yes, I can,” says Allen Park Police Officer Daniel Mack.
Campbell, and his attorney David Robinson, say Officer Mack performed an illegal a body cavity search on Campbell.
“Why you putting your fingers in my [expletive]?? Why you feeling my [expletive],” says Campbell in the video.
“Cause you got [something] tucked into your [expletive],” said Mack.
Campbell denies that, and Mack finds nothing during the search.
“It was very dehumanizing,” Campbell told 7 Investigator Heather Catallo. “What he did was unconstitutional, violated my civil rights and violated me as a man period.”
The 32-year-old father from Detroit says he was terrified to find himself in that jail cell, and says he felt helpless.
“My fear switched over to me wondering ‘am I really going to make it out of here alive,’” said Campbell.
Campbell says this all started back in June, when Officer Mack pulled him over on the Southfield freeway near Rotunda. Campbell says he had just bought a minivan for his wife, and it still had the temporary paper license plate taped to the window.
“He said he couldn’t see the license plate. I thought that was very weird and odd that he couldn’t see a license plate by it being 7:00 in the afternoon,” said Campbell.
Campbell was driving with a suspended license, since he says he can’t afford to pay the fees needed to reinstate his license. So Officer Mack patted him down, arrested him, and that’s where Campbell says things start to go wrong.
“He ran my name, he then got the K9 dog out; him and the K9 dog went searching through the car – didn’t find anything,” said Campbell.
Allen Park Police officers do not have scout car cameras or body cameras. If Mack ran the K9 dog through the vehicle, he would have needed probable cause to look for drugs, and a search warrant. There was no search warrant that the 7 Investigators or Campbell’s lawyer could find.
Campbell says the dog didn’t find anything, because there were no drugs. Yet when they arrive at the Allen Park Police Department, Officer Mack is insisting that Campbell put something down his pants.
“Your pants [are] unzipped. I’m gonna find it one way or another, alright? So we can do this the easy way or the hard way,” said Mack on the video. “What you got in your drawers,” said Mack.
After Campbell is put in the holding cell, Officer Mack appears to become irate.
“Drop ‘em,” said Mack.
“Drop what,” asked Campbell.
“Your drawers,” said Mack.
“You want me to get naked,” asked Campbell.
“Yeah, you’re getting naked. You’re in a holding cell, you’re getting naked,” said Mack.
Then, Officer Mack pats Campbell down for a third time, unzips Campbell’s pants, and looks down his underwear.
Officer Mack is still insisting that Campbell needs to take his pants off.
“Drop your drawers,” said Mack.
“I’m not taking my underwear off,” said Campbell.
Then two other police officers enter the room and Campbell and his lawyer say Mack begins the body cavity search.
“Why you putting your fingers in my [expletive],” said Campbell “Why you feeling my [expletive].”
“Cause you got it tucked into your [expletive],” said Mack.
“No,” yelled Campbell.
When Mack doesn’t appear to find anything, he says, “You can keep it.”
“Ain’t nothing to keep,” said Campbell.
“The other officers were being aggressive with their voices telling me “don’t move,” and be still, but it’s kind of hard to be still when you know you have someone grabbing your testicles through your underwear, and putting their fingers in places that another man shouldn’t be,” said Campbell.
“It is a body cavity search; it is the worst intrusion by any public officer anywhere on the face of the planet,” said Attorney David Robinson.
Robinson represents Campbell, and has now filed a federal lawsuit against the city of Allen Park Police and Officer Mack. Robinson says according to Michigan law, a police officer must get a valid search warrant in order to have a body cavity search conducted. Robinson says there was no warrant, making this search illegal.
“It was a crime,” said Robinson.
And that’s not all.
“The only person who can do the searching according to the statute is the person that is [a] licensed medical professional! It doesn’t happen in anybody’s holding cell, in the jail,” said Robinson.
The 7 Investigators checked with the State of Michigan: there is no record of Officer Daniel Mack having any sort of medical license.
Officer Mack makes no reference in his police reports to the alleged body cavity search. A full report on a body cavity search is required by law.
“This is unconscionable,” said Robinson.
As for Kevin Campbell, he says can’t sleep at night. He also says he was afraid to come forward, but says he knew that he had to.
“This is about the other people that it happened to, so if I don’t stand up who will? I know I’m not the only victim and I just want all of you out there to stand up, speak up. You have rights – use them. What he did was not right he can’t get away with it. And no one else can get away with it,” said Campbell.
The 7 Investigators did ask the Allen Park Police Chief to talk to us about this incident, and about their department policies. Because of Campbell’s lawsuit, the Chief says they can’t comment on this.
This isn’t first time Officer Mack has been at the center of a controversial case. Tuesday on 7 Action News at 6pm, Investigator Heather Catallo will show you what he did last year that landed an innocent man in jail.
If you have a story for Heather, please email her at hcatallo@wxyz.com or call 248-827-4473
