SALT LAKE CITY — An 18-year-old woman has filed a civil lawsuit against former Box Elder County Sheriff Deputy Scott R. Womack claiming he forced her to strip, show her breasts and stand in the snow during a traffic stop.
Womack, who was terminated from the sheriff’s office on March 10, had worked as a deputy since 1997, according to the county personnel office.
Tamsen Reid, 18, named Box Elder County Sheriff J. Lynn Yeates and Box Elder County. No court date has been set.
Reid claims in the court documents that at 10 p.m. Nov. 20, 2010, when she was 17, Womack pulled over the car that she and four other teens were riding in for a traffic violation.
Womack had the three teenage girls “stand barefoot in the snow roadside and lift up their shirts and pull their bras away from their bodies,” according to the court documents.
He then asked all of the passengers for identification, which he took to his patrol car to check for warrants.
When he returned, Womack told Reid she had “a heroin violation in Arizona” which Reid denied, saying she had never been to Arizona and had never used heroin, according to the documents.
Womack then told Reid he could either arrest her and book in her jail, or “get in his car and be searched for certain tattoos and piercings,” according to the document.
Reid “reluctantly chose” to be searched and went into his car, where she removed her clothing as Womack told her to do,” according to the document.
She refused to follow his commands when Womack said he “needed to check for vaginal piercing,” according to the lawsuit.
Womack issued the driver an warning citation, which he never filed with the sheriff’s office, according to the documents.
Reid did not tell anyone about the search until after June when she checked with Sandy police to see if there was an outstanding warrant in Arizona and discovered there was none for her, or anyone with a similar name.
She contacted Box Elder County officials to file a citizen’s complaint and was told by a victim’s advocate, “Don’t bother reporting this, because these things happen all the time, and nothing ever comes of them,” according to the document.
Reid filed a personnel complaint form on July 18.
The lawsuit claims Box Elder County officials have received citizen complaints against Womack in the past accusing him “of illegal actions, sexual harassment, and/or other misconduct.”
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