Esmeralda Rossi was never charged with a crime.
But that didn’t stop an Arizona police officer from illegally entering her home and placing her in handcuffs, according to a KXNV-TV report.
Rossi was in the shower when two officers arrived at her home responding to an earlier domestic dispute. Rossi emerged in only a bath towel to find the officers in her kitchen. One officer, Doug Rose, proceeded to handcuff her, despite the fact she was naked.
An internal investigation found Rose had entered Rossi’s home without probable cause. During the encounter, Rossi’s towel fell to the floor leaving her completely naked.
Rose proceeded with the ‘arrest.’ He failed to document in the police report that Rossi was naked. He also failed to turn his body camera on.
A second officer with the Chandler Police Department, David Selvidge, recorded the incident on his body camera. Selvidge then alerted his supervisor of the incident, which led to the investigation of Rose’s conduct.
Rossi is now planning to file a civil lawsuit against the police. Rose has since resigned from the force, but will receive his “full pension.”
“It made me very uncomfortable,” Rossi said. “So I closed the door. 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.”
“This was not the proper treatment of a citizen,” Rossi’s attorney Marc Victor added. “This was disgusting. This was barbaric.”