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Published: Feb 17, 2021 at 11:28 AM EDT
VALDOSTA – A Georgia woman has filed a civil rights lawsuit against Lowndes County and two of its Sheriff’s deputies in federal court.
Maria de Lourdes Deustua Lavoriel’s lawsuit says that Lowndes County Sheriff’s Deputies Jace Norman and Brandon Goldman violated her Fourth Amendment rights regarding unreasonable seizure “of plaintiff Maria’s person”, false imprisonment, malicious prosecution and negligence based on unreasonable conduct.
The facts of the complaint state “on July 24, 2020, at approximately 2:40 P.M., Plaintiff Maria was driving her vehicle in Lowndes County, Georgia. Plaintiff Maria was stopped by Defendants Norman and Goldman. Defendant Norman asked for Plaintiff Maria’s drivers’ license and she gave her drivers’ license to him. Defendants Norman and Goldman then arrested Plaintiff Maria informing her she did not have a valid drivers’ license.”
The complaint continues that “There was no probable cause, nor any arguable probable cause, to arrest or prosecute Plaintiff Maria for not having a valid drivers’ license or any other crime. In fact, Plaintiff Maria’s drivers’ license was valid and legal, and she legally resided in the United States pursuant to the Cuban Adjustment Act.”
Defendants Norman and Goldman took Plaintiff Maria to the Lowndes County jail where she was stripped naked and subjected to a full body search. She was later released on bond.
On August 28, 2020, the charges were nolle prossed by order of the State Court of Lowndes County, thereby terminating the prosecution that Defendants Norman and Goldman had initiated against Plaintiff Maria.
The lawsuit ends by stating,
“As an immigrant who came to America to live and work in a free country, Plaintiff Maria never expected to experience such treatment. She was forced to live with the uncertainty of pending criminal charges that she knew were unfounded, and even now that the charges are behind her, the memory of the incident and its potential impact upon her continue to cause significant distress. In addition, the arrest remains on her record and has caused issues for her when traveling since the incident.”
The full complaint can be read here:
Case 7:21-cv-00007-WLS
A body cam video capturing the arrest shows both deputies seemingly poking fun of the driver’s ethnicity (7-minute mark of full video).
You can hear Deputy Goldman say to Deputy Norman,
“She ain’t got no valid ‘residencia’, the Spanish word for residence.” to which Deputy Norman responds,
“She’s gonna to go to the valid…hoosegow” – a slang term for jail with Mexican-Spanish origins.
This exchange came after Deputy Goldman told Maria, “We’re not in Mexico, we’re in America” after asking if she had a valid driver’s license.
The full unedited and uncut interaction can be viewed in following two videos, taken from each of the deputy’s body worn cameras. There is no sound for the first several seconds.
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