Police Forced Women to ‘Shake Breasts’ in Traffic Stop: Lawsuit

HAZEL PARK, MI — Two women who were stopped for a traffic violation in Hazel Park earlier this summer were required to expose and shake their breasts on a busy stretch of Interstate 75, according to a federal lawsuit.

The lawsuit, which alleges that at least one of the four officers involved in the stop recorded the encounter on a cell phone, said their conduct was “extreme and outrageous.”

The action was filed in U.S. District Court on Friday by Southfield attorney Robert Giroux. Only one of the officers — Ryan McCabe — is named in the lawsuit. The other three are listed as “John Doe Officers 1-3.”

The women are seeking $75,000 in damages for emotional distress and physical pain, according to the lawsuit.

Hazel Park Police Chief Martin Barner denied that the alleged cellphone video exists, the Detroit Free Press reported. He told the newspaper that the his department is conducting an internal investigation of the allegations, which he said are “very serious” and “are being taken very seriously.”

However, he told The Daily Tribune that “it’s important for everyone to realize that for $75 and an attorney, anyone can file a federal lawsuit.”

“You can say whatever you want in it and the statements never have to be proven factual” until the case goes to trial, he told The Daily Tribune.

The officers involved remain on duty, Barner said.

“We will let the facts determine the outcome,” he told the Free Press. “There hasn’t been any concrete information that this occurred at all.”

According to the lawsuit, McCabe pulled over a Chevrolet Tahoe driven by Michelle Jaeger for a traffic violation as she was northbound on I-75 near Eight Mile Road about 2 a.m. on June 5. Jaeger had two passengers, Jan Crawford and Christopher Mattice.

The vehicle was stopped for allegedly changing lanes across a solid white line without a turn signal. After McCabe found a “small baggie” of suspected cocaine in Mattice’s sock during a pat-down, he asked the two women to step out of the vehicle, according to the lawsuit.

While searching Crawford, McCabe “directed her to lean over the hood of the vehicle, pull up her shirt and bra ... and to shake her breasts. He then directed her to shake her breasts again, harder,” according to the lawsuit.

At that point, McCabe and the other three offices asked Jaeger to also expose and shake her breasts, according to the lawsuit. She was allowed to “turn away from the highway when he directed her to expose and shake her breasts, but she was still in full view of the highway and the persons on the scene,” the lawsuit claimed.

Nothing illegal was found on either woman. All four officers are accused of watching.

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