FAST FACTS:
tom.powell@wreg.com
twitter.com/tompowell3
(MEMPHIS 5/19/2011) -- Lonnie Sharp is a transgender woman who lives her life as Kiare Newsom. She has for more than two decades. She says she's faced some struggles along the way, but nothing like what she experienced during a traffic stop last week.
She and her boyfriend were pulled over at Austin Peay and I-40 on May 12th. Police say they pulled her over because she didn't have proper tags. Newsom says what the officers did to her was improper. "I've never been called so many fa****, punk, sissy," she says. "It has destroyed me mentally and physically."
She says one of two officers on the scene asked her if she was a he or a she. She says she explained she was transgender, and that's when the officer told her to lift up her shirt. "I pulled my bra up. I pulled my shirt up," she says. "I said I don't have anything in my breasts. these are my real breasts."
The officers didn't mention any of that in the police report. They wrote they smelled "the strong odor of marijuana." The affidavit of complaint says the officers found a blunt in the car and that Newsom's boyfriend pulled something out of his pocket that was wrapped in a paper towel. They say he threw it over a bridge.
Officer's arrested Newsom's boyfriend, Demarco Mull for drugs, resisting arrest, vandalism and tampering with evidence. Newsom doesn't dispute there was a blunt in the car.
Officers let Newsom go after giving her a ticket for registration violation. She says the officers violated her rights. "Verbally, it was like they just tore me apart," she says.
Newsom now has the support of advocate Vanessa Rodges-Jones, who says the officers were out of line. "That's sexual harassment, that's embarrassment, that's appalling," Rodgers-Jones says.
Newsom is represented by Murray Wells, an attorney who handled the case against a memphis police officer who was caught on tape beating another trangender woman, Duanna Johnson. "Everyone needs to be treated equally and fairly, and be respected for who they are" Wells says.
Wells says he will be sending a letter to the police director and the mayor about Newsom's complaint.
- Kiare Newsom says officers harassed her during a traffic stop
- She says they called her slurs, and told her to lift her shirt.
- Newsom met with MPD internal affairs Thursday
tom.powell@wreg.com
twitter.com/tompowell3
(MEMPHIS 5/19/2011) -- Lonnie Sharp is a transgender woman who lives her life as Kiare Newsom. She has for more than two decades. She says she's faced some struggles along the way, but nothing like what she experienced during a traffic stop last week.
She and her boyfriend were pulled over at Austin Peay and I-40 on May 12th. Police say they pulled her over because she didn't have proper tags. Newsom says what the officers did to her was improper. "I've never been called so many fa****, punk, sissy," she says. "It has destroyed me mentally and physically."
She says one of two officers on the scene asked her if she was a he or a she. She says she explained she was transgender, and that's when the officer told her to lift up her shirt. "I pulled my bra up. I pulled my shirt up," she says. "I said I don't have anything in my breasts. these are my real breasts."
The officers didn't mention any of that in the police report. They wrote they smelled "the strong odor of marijuana." The affidavit of complaint says the officers found a blunt in the car and that Newsom's boyfriend pulled something out of his pocket that was wrapped in a paper towel. They say he threw it over a bridge.
Officer's arrested Newsom's boyfriend, Demarco Mull for drugs, resisting arrest, vandalism and tampering with evidence. Newsom doesn't dispute there was a blunt in the car.
Officers let Newsom go after giving her a ticket for registration violation. She says the officers violated her rights. "Verbally, it was like they just tore me apart," she says.
Newsom now has the support of advocate Vanessa Rodges-Jones, who says the officers were out of line. "That's sexual harassment, that's embarrassment, that's appalling," Rodgers-Jones says.
Newsom is represented by Murray Wells, an attorney who handled the case against a memphis police officer who was caught on tape beating another trangender woman, Duanna Johnson. "Everyone needs to be treated equally and fairly, and be respected for who they are" Wells says.
Wells says he will be sending a letter to the police director and the mayor about Newsom's complaint.
