STUDENT STRIPPED OF HER R ights

Words: Emily Malia

Yet another child in the US has been left traumatised by an invasive strip search carried out by their school principle, all to look for, you guessed it…a vaping device.

The disturbed mother of the 14-year-old girl, Kristal Trenkamp, has filed a lawsuit against the middle school, arguing that the incident violated her daughter’s Fourth Amendment rights.

Principle of the Oklahoma school, Veronica Johnson, made the student lift up her t-shirt and spin around so that she could view the minor child’s bra.

The young girl made victim to the invasive strip search claims she had to ‘bare her abdomen and the top of her boxers and spin’ according to the lawsuit filing.

As a part of her mission to find the vape, Johnson allegedly and inappropriately, asked the teen about the style of the undergarments she was wearing beneath her trousers.

The lawsuit filed by the mother states: “No reasonable person would conclude that the benefits of conducting an illegal strip search of the minor would outweigh the harm caused by the search, “Nor find that the search was necessary in light of the circumstances.”

It goes on to say that the actions taken against the young girl were ‘wrongful, extreme, and outrageous, transcending the bounds of all human decency.’

As a result of the strip search the student suffered extreme emotional distress and hardship, as expected.

The lawsuit, claiming the ordeal violated not only

Oklahoma law but Edmond Public Schools policy, is seeking $25,000 in total damages alongside the attorney’s fees and other costs occurred.

After the accusations, it was proven that the 14-yearold was not in fact carrying a vape after all and no device was found.

Later, it was revealed that no warrant to search the student was obtained before the event took place, resulting in the girl uncomfortably undressing in front of an open window.

This story is just one of many that have been uncovered in the last year, with illegal strip searches on the rise in schools, across the US.

In the UK however, it seems more schools are taking a proactive stance and most importantly – a safer stance, to prevent underage vaping within schools.

Methods of this include fitting vapor senses within toilet cubicles, where students often go to vape, to reduce the amount of devices seen during school times.

Many people within the vaping community pass the blame for these kinds of strip-search incidents on anti-vaping groups such as ‘Parents Against Vaping’.

One previously tweeted on the issue: ‘This makes me mad… self-constructed hysteria and ‘Parents Against Parenting’ still are absolutely sure, they are on the right track.”

Another vaper tweeted: “Sometimes I wonder if these people actually care about the kids or if they just use them as an excuse to erect an Orwellian police state.”