Video: Officer Arrests Naked Woman After Illegally Entering Her Home
An Arizona woman says she plans to sue her local police department after an officer illegally forced his way into her home and arrested her while she was nude—all without charging her with any crime, KPHO reports.
“I felt helpless,” Esmeralda Rossi told KNXV. “I felt violated. And honestly, I felt molested.”
The incident captured in the disturbing cell phone video above occurred this March, when Chandler Police Officer Doug Rose came to Rossi’s home over a complaint involving a domestic situation with her husband. From The NY Daily News:
Rossi was in the shower when the cops knocked, and her daughter answered the door. The girl then went to her mom’s shower to tell her about the visitors. Rossi grabbed a towel to cover up and met the cops at the door.
Rose and his partner started interrogating Rossi, and the mom admitted that she took an attitude with the cops. The conversation got more aggressive, and Rossi said she felt “uncomfortable” — so she asked the cops if she could fetch her phone to record their conversation.
“So I closed the door,” Rossi told KNXV. “I turn to go into my living room, and I probably get about five steps in; and all of a sudden, I just hear boots running in after me, telling me stop or I’ll arrest you.”
It’s at that point that the cell phone video shot by Rossi’s daughter begins, showing Rossi pleading with Rose not to touch her as her towel falls to the ground and she’s left naked. Rose then arrests Rossi, later unarresting her without charging her with any crime.
A subsequent internal investigation found that Rose entered Rossi’s home illegally without probable cause and failed to put important details about the incident in his report, including his use of force, Rossi’s arrest and the fact the she was naked.
Before the final results of the investigation were submitted, however, Officer Rose retired from the police force.
Rossi reportedly plans to file her civil suit within the next week.