Some police departments across South Dakota force catheterizations on people who refuse to give drug samples. In one instance, officers subjected a 3-year-old boy to a similar procedure as part of a child welfare investigation earlier this year.
From the Argus Leader:
A mesh bag blurred Dirk Sparks' vision.
He lay hooded and handcuffed as four police officers pinned him to a hospital exam table.
Through the patterned light, he saw a fifth officer filming the procedure.
His pants were loosened and pulled below his waist.
Then, pain.
A nurse at Avera St. Mary's Hospital in Pierre inserted a pencil-sized tube into Sparks' urethra to drain his bladder. Moments later, an officer with the Pierre Police Department held a cup of Sparks' urine that soon would be sent off for drug testing.
“It was degrading,” Sparks said. “I was angry. I felt like my civil rights were being violated.”
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