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SALT LAKE CITY — A second woman has filed a federal lawsuit alleging a Box Elder County sheriff's deputy illegally strip-searched her last year.
Talia S. Buck, of Salt Lake County, says deputy Scott R. Womack pulled her over on the afternoon of Nov. 26, 2010, just south of Brigham City. He told her there was a warrant for her arrest in Arizona. Buck told him it must be a mistake because she had never been to Arizona, according to the suit filed Wednesday in U.S. District Court.
Womack went back to his patrol car and Buck called her mother on her cell phone. When Womack returned, he told her except for her middle name, Buck matched the description for the Arizona woman. He told her the only way to prove her identity was to compare tattoos with the Arizona woman, the suit says.
Buck told him she had a tattoo on her foot and her collar bone, which she reluctantly showed the officer. He told her he needed more proof and she complied, lifting the back of her shirt to reveal her lower back and abdomen.
Womack, according to the suit, told her the tattoo would be on her lower abdomen and she would have to show more.
"She could either pull down or 'low-ride' her pants to show Womack, or take the 'hard way' and be arrested and fingerprinted at the police station," the lawsuit states.
Buck says she began crying and told the deputy she needed to talk to her mother who was still on her cell phone.
"Womack suddenly became visibly nervous. Womack stated 'you seem like a nice girl. Let's just pretend this never happened.'"
Buck's story is similar to that of then 17-year-old Tamsen Reid in November 2010. Reid, now 18, held a news conference in August to tell her story.
According to Buck's suit, several women complained to the Box Elder County Sheriff's Office with similar stories. Buck says she called the office the day after the incident and was told, "I don't think officer Womack is that type of person."
The lawsuit also names Sheriff J. Lynn Yeates and Box Elder County.
In August, an attorney for the sheriff's office said Womack "left employment" and that the Weber County Attorney's Office was conducting a criminal investigation into Reid's allegations. Peace Officer Standards and Training also was investigating.
Email:dromboy@ksl.com
