Oregon Woman Sues Police, Hospital Over Forced Urine Sample After Traffic Stop

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Liese Behringer wound up in a hospital after Ashland, Oregon, police stopped her for suspected drunken driving two years ago but not because she was injured.

Police had Behringer, now 64, undergo a forced catheterization to get a urine sample to check for alcohol or drugs in her system.

Providence Health Care then billed Behringer $1,100.24 for the procedure.

Behringer has filed what her lawyers said they believe is one of the first challenges in Oregon to the involuntary practice.

People have filed similar lawsuits in South Dakota, Indiana, Utah, New Jersey and Idaho.

Behringer argues that the “barbaric” practice is unconstitutional and urges a judge to order Ashland police and Providence Medford Medical Center and other Providence Health Care hospitals to stop doing it.

The suit alleges the practice is used widely in some parts of Oregon, and also that police threaten forced catheterization to coerce suspects to provide urine samples in some parts of the state.

Behringer’s attorneys cite a 1999 ruling by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that law enforcement’s “forceful use of a catheter” is a “gross personal indignity far exceeding that involved in a simple blood test.” Even if police have probable cause to obtain a urine sample, it’s still unreasonable if excessive force is used to get it, the court ruled.

A federal judge in South Dakota last year also found the practice unconstitutional.

Ashland Police Chief Tighe O’Meara said he was unaware of the federal suit in Oregon until he received it from a reporter and couldn’t comment.

Providence Health Care’s spokesman Gary Walker declined comment.

But in a separate response to Behringer after she filed a complaint with the healthcare provider, a spokeswoman said medical staff appropriately assisted police in evidence collection, tried to maintain her privacy and that she had been warned by the police officer about what would happen if she refused to give a urine sample.

The suit alleges Ashland police and medical staff at the hospital conspired to violate Behringer’s civil rights by putting in a catheter against her will, failing to disclose the procedure in a search warrant and allowing police to be in the treatment area during the procedure.

It also amounted to excessive force for a misdemeanor offense – driving under the influence of intoxicants, the suit alleges.

Police got a blood draw from Behringer at the hospital that day and that should have sufficed, the suit says, noting blood is consistently more accurate for detecting alcohol or drugs.

UNABLE TO PROVIDE SUFFICIENT BREATH SAMPLE

According to the suit and court records, Ashland police officer Justin McCreadie encountered Behringer on Oct. 19, 2019, when he spotted her car stopped in the middle of East Main Street near Fordyce Street.

Once she started driving, the officer said the car was “swerving in its lane” and he initiated a stop, a probable cause affidavit said. Behringer told the officer she was on her phone, but McCreadie said Behringer’s speech was slurred, slow and largely incoherent.

According to the affidavit, Behringer admitted drinking, had bloodshot eyes and smelled of alcohol.

Behringer had a disabled parking decal visible in her front window and an oxygen regulator in the car. She takes several medications and suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder, according to her suit.

The officer brought Behringer to the police station and had her take a breath test. Behringer has a respiratory ailment that prevented her from providing a sufficient sample for the test, according to one of her lawyers, Joy Bertrand.

Unable to obtain a sufficient breath sample, the officer insisted Behringer provide a urine sample in front of him, the suit says.  She refused to do so in front of a male officer, her lawyer said.

McCreadie then obtained a warrant for Behringer’s blood and urine and drove her to Providence Medford Medical Center.

According to the suit, McCreadie made a quip to Behringer at the hospital in front of medical staff, saying something to the effect of, “Do you know what they do to you if you don’t urinate?”

Behringer was then “forcibly stripped from the waist down” while McCreadie stood directly in front of her and medical staff forced a catheter into her urethra, the suit says. Betrand said she wasn’t sure who yanked her client’s clothes down.

“This is rape! This is rape!” Behringer yelled out in pain, according to the suit.



‘PROCESS IS UNPLEASANT ENOUGH’

Behringer later called Providence Health Care to complain about what occurred. In February 2020, she received a written response from patient care liaison Pamela Morris.

Morris wrote that the hospital leadership reviewed Behringer’s medical records and found “the care appropriate as assisting law enforcement with evidence collection is something we are often asked to do.”

If the hospital can avoid taking part in such procedures, it does, Morris wrote.

She acknowledged the “process is unpleasant enough” that the hospital should make every effort to reduce the negative impact and that Providence’s expectation is for officers to turn their backs if it’s safe to do so.

McCreadie and a security guard stood on the right side of the room with their backs turned to Behringer “to respect your privacy,” Morris wrote.  She add that any officer’s “look into your eyes was incidental and had nothing to do with any mal intent.”

Morris also wrote that the Ashland officer provided Behringer with “multiple opportunities to comply with his orders” and had advised her of the “possible use of physical force to allow staff to complete the procedure.”

Behringer ended up pleading guilty to driving under the influence of intoxicants in July 2020. She served 20 days in jail, was sentenced to two years of probation and had her license suspended for a year. On probation, she’s been ordered to submit to testing for any controlled substance or alcohol use.

Providence Health Care eventually waived Behringer’s fee for the procedure, Bertrand said.

OTHER COURT RULINGS

John Henry Hingson III, a veteran criminal defense lawyer in Oregon who specializes in defending people accused of DUII, said Behringer’s guilt isn’t the issue in her challenge.

“It’s the method,” said Hingson, who isn’t involved in Behringer’s case.

Hingson said he hadn’t heard of a police-sought forced catheterization to obtain a urine sample from a suspect in Oregon but has litigated a case in which police threatened to get a urine sample from a defendant.

He noted a 1952 ruling in a California case, which found that a warrantless forcible pumping of a person’s stomach at a hospital to try to obtain drugs that police believed had been swallowed was “conduct that shocks the conscience.”

“Illegally breaking into the privacy of the petitioner.. this course of proceeding by agents of government to obtain evidence is bound to offend even hardened sensibilities,” the ruling said.

Last year, a federal judge in South Dakota approved $440,000 in legal settlements for people in that state who were subjected to forced catheterization to check for drug use. Five people were awarded settlements between $75,000 and $99,000 for damages and legal costs.

The judge ruled in April 2020 that police who used such procedures violated the 4th Amendment protection against unreasonable searches and seizures. The lawsuit named the state Highway Patrol, individual officers and police departments.

The judge found that obtaining the suspects’ urine to prove a low-level drug crime didn’t justify the “highly invasive’' and “degrading medical procedure.” He noted police could have used a blood test to get evidence.

The 9th Circuit ruling also condemned forced catheterization in the 1993 case of Terrence L. Ellis, who was arrested at his home in San Diego after a domestic disturbance call.

Ellis was handcuffed and taken by ambulance to a hospital, where he was sedated into unconsciousness before a doctor inserted a catheter into his penis to extract a urine sample against his will and over his objections.

The appellate court noted the doctor was also liable for acting “more like a police agent than a doctor.”

Bertrand called the facts in the Ellis case “less egregious” than what Behringer experienced.

“They at least anesthetized the guy before catheterizing,” she said.

Behringer’s suit seeks unspecified compensation for her pain and suffering and medical costs. She suffered a urinary tract infection after the forced catheterization and required additional medical care, the suit said. It also seeks punitive damages and asks the court to stop the practice.

“We also want the court to tell hospitals they’re also going to be on the hook if they conspire with law enforcement to violate people’s rights,” Bertrand said.