ATLANTA,None — A Georgia Tech football fan has filed a lawsuit after she says she was strip searched over a chicken sandwich.
A federal lawsuit accuses Georgia Tech officers and its private security company of unlawful arrest and unlawful imprisonment, among other things.
Mary Clayton said she never thought a chicken sandwich would result in a strip search.
It was very humiliating and degrading, Clayton said.
Clayton said the incident happened in late September of last year. The Georgia Tech season ticket holder said she had just bought a Chick-Fil-A sandwich and was rushing to her seats before kickoff.
They told me I couldn't bring it in, and that was fine, Clayton said.
She said she walked away and tossed the sandwich into the garbage but when she returned, officers stopped her.
Lawsuit Claiming Woman Strip Searched Over Sandwich
People were saying I had a chicken sandwich hidden in the front of my pants, Clayton said and consented to a search. I believed at the time a reasonable search was they would pat my pockets down.
Instead she said a female Georgia Tech police officer took her into a bathroom stall and ordered her to drop her pants.
She then examined my underwear closely, all the way around, and when she didn't find anything I was told to lift my shirt and bra and expose myself, Clayton said.
In a police report, Georgia Tech officer Shandricka McKenzie gives a different story, writing "to my surprise, the individual then without instructions unbuttoned her pants and lowered them to the floor and lifted her shirt.
There's something wrong when they are going to treat a former student, a season ticket holder in such a rude and inappropriate manner, Claytons lawyer, William Amideo, said.
Now, Clayton said she's giving up her season tickets.
They took away something that I really loved and I looked forward to each year. And that was football season, Clayton said.
When asked for a response to the lawsuit, a Georgia Tech spokesperson referred Channel 2 Action News to the Attorney Generals Office which is handling this case. So far, there has been no response.
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