Several pieces of surveillance footage from an Illinois jail released over recent months show a Black woman being pinned down and strip searched as male corrections officers watched after the woman was arrested for allegedly driving under the influence in 2019.
Ariel Harrison, a 31-year-old mother of three who is blind in one eye, was arrested in October 2019 in Macomb, Illinois, for reckless driving, although she claims she was not drinking and that she was not tested for alcohol consumption. Harrison was transported to the McDonough County Jail, where she was subjected to the search. Footage of the search was released in April and June.
On the night of Harrison’s arrest, someone called 911 to report a driver who had nearly hit someone and was believed to be intoxicated. When police arrived, a short chase ensued and Harrison at one point drove on the wrong side of the street in the opposite direction of traffic. Harrison initially refused to get out of the car but was ultimately taken into custody by officers, according to police.
“When they pulled me over, they didn’t really explain to me, they just pulled me out of my car,” Harrison told Vice News. She denies that she consumed alcohol that day and said she wasn’t given a breathalyzer test, although a police report that says she consumed two shots of Fireball whisky before driving. Harrison exhibited slurred speech and watery, bloodshot eyes, according to police, and a passenger in the vehicle told police about the shots,
Harrison said she didn’t know she was being pulled over initially, and that her driver’s side window was stuck when police approached but that when she opened the door the situation escalated. Harrison said she was tased several times before being put into the back of the police vehicle, and then she passed out and woke up in a cell.
The Democratic Women of McDonough County organization stepped in to help Harrison with her case and get videos of the strip search released.
The first video was obtained in April via a Freedom of Information Act request. The two-minute video shows three officers pinning Harrison down as she lies on the floor in a prone position with her hands cuffed behind her back. Harrison is heard crying out, although her words are inaudible. The officers removed Harrison’s sweater and tossed it onto the hallway floor before removing the handcuffs and leaving her on the floor of the cell alone.
The second video, released in June without audio, was recorded several hours after the first. In the footage, a male and a female officer approach Harrison in her cell. Both officers enter the room and the female officer threatens Harrison with a stun gun, as the woman returns to her cot to sit. According to the captions, the female officer demanded that Harrison strip in front of the male officer as she pleaded for privacy.
“I had told her that it’s not right. That he wasn’t supposed to be there while I changed,” Harrison said. “She told me, ‘Well, he’s here with me.’ Basically, she didn’t really care. I felt like she violated my rights.”
The officers proceeded to strip Harrison against her will, throwing her items of clothing into the hallway. Another male officer entered the room and aided in the strip search. He kneeled on Harrison’s legs and forcibly removed her underwear as the other officers pinned her down against the floor with their weight.
After an officer threw Harrison’s underwear into the hallway floor with the rest of her clothes, she was left alone in the cell, naked. An officer returned shortly after to provide a yellow clothing item, which he dropped on on the floor in front of Harrison before leaving.
Corrections officers said Harrison was strip searched because she refused to comply with orders to undress, but Harrison told VICE News she was afraid of being sexually assaulted.
The Macomb Police Department said in a statement that it stands by officers’ accounts of what occurred. “The incident was documented by involved personnel. Additionally, the incident was further reviewed by Department Supervisory personnel and documented per Macomb Police Policy and Procedures,” the statement said. “The Macomb Police Department serves our community in a fair and unbiased manner as we report events objectively, impartially, and without bias.”
More than a year after her arrest, Harrison is still facing five to seven years in prison for a variety of charges, including aggravated battery, driving under the influence, resisting a peace officer, and improper lane usage. She says she hasn’t seen her kids, ages 6, 12, and 13, since she was first arrested. Harrison has been found guilty of four charges and will be sentenced on Aug. 10. Her attorney has filed a motion for a new trial.
According to Sarah Grady, a partner at Loevy & Loevy in Chicago and head of the law firm’s Prisoner Rights Project, cross-gender strip searches are restricted.
“They shouldn’t be done in view of, or by members of, the opposite gender, unless there is an exigency. There has to be a justification for why there would be a cross-gender strip search because there is a recognition of the fact that cross-gender strip searches are particularly intrusive, they’re particularly harmful, especially for women,” she said.
A petition started by the Democratic Women of McDonough County to have all charges against Harrison dropped has gained more than 49,000 signatures. A GoFundMe page to cover Harrison’s attorney’s fees has raised more than $15,000.
