Remanded For Possible Fourth Amendment Violation.

During the strip search portion of an arrest, a suspect possibly feigned a seizure and was observed “pushing his finger in his anus attempting to conceal an item” in a plastic baggie. Paramedics took him to a hospital where a doctor unsuccessfully tried to remove the baggie by inserting his fingers into the suspect’s rectum. Thereafter the suspect was sedated. When he regained his awareness, the suspect said he had a “big tube down my mouth and stuff kept coming out of me out my anal. . . .all I just seen was just blood on that bed and everything and my anal hurting so bad because I was bleeding a lot.” Later testing showed that an intact plastic baggie removed from the suspect’s rectum contained 8.99 grams of cocaine base, and he is currently serving an eight-year prison term for possession for sale. He filed an action under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 against police officers and the emergency room doctor and nurses. The district court granted summary judgment in favor of all defendants. The current appeal involves only the police officers and the Ninth Circuit reversed on the Fourth Amendment claim and remanded the matter to the trial court. (George v. Edholm (Ninth Circuit; May 28, 2014)752 F.3d 1206.)