Woman claims Fort Lauderdale police illegally entered, searched her home

Fort Lauderdale police 'looking into' incident caught on cellphone video

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – A commotion between police and a Fort Lauderdale family was caught on cellphone video.

Ratonya Dumas said her children woke her up after 3 a.m. Tuesday, claiming Fort Lauderdale police had pulled over their friend's car and handcuffed one of the teenagers who was in the car.

Dumas said she went outside to see why a police car was there with its lights on.

"I'm like, 'For what?' And that's when I came outside, and I'm approaching, you know, the officer, and I'm like, 'What's going on?'" Dumas said.

In the video, taken by Dumas' daughter, the officer said he smelled drugs.

"I come by the car, it stinks like marijuana," the officer is heard saying on video. "I have the legal right to detain every single one in handcuffs."

Dumas asks for the officer's ID and minutes later, she said, he and other officers entered her house illegally.

A spokeswoman for the Fort Lauderdale Police Department told Local 10 News in an email that the department "is aware of the mentioned video and looking into it further. The Fort Lauderdale Police Department encourages anyone who witnessed the incident to contact our internal affairs office."

"He came here looking for trouble," Dumas said.


About the Author:

Janine Stanwood joined Local 10 News in February 2004 as an assignment editor. She is now a general assignment reporter. Before moving to South Florida from her Washington home, Janine was the senior legislative correspondent for a United States senator on Capitol Hill.