A model who says she was forced to strip and expose herself
in a Colombian police station in front of baying male prisoners is suing
officers after they shared the X-rated footage online.
Katherine Martinez claims she was told by officers at the
station in Cali, Colombia, that she had to lift up her dress and expose her
private parts while she was chained to a window if she wanted them to remove
her handcuffs and give her a chair to sit down on.
A video showing the 27-year-old woman, who claimed she
consented to exposing herself because she was drunk and needed to sit down
because of a sprained ankle, exposing herself has since gone viral as police
chiefs admitted officers posted the footage online and said they ‘deeply
regretted’ their actions.
The mother-of-one, a former physiotherapist who gave up a
job in a hospital to start working as a model and DJ, said: ‘All the police
officers told me that if I wanted them to pass me a chair or take my handcuffs
off, I had to take off my dress and show them my body.
‘Then the male prisoners began to yell at me, “Yes, yes,
lift your dress up.”
‘I remember some things but not everything. I remember them
telling me they were filming me.’
Cali Police commander Hugo Casas appeared to back up her
version of events by confessing his own officers were responsible for posting
the footage online, although he stopped short of admitting they had blackmailed
the model into exposing herself.
HE TOLD LOCAL
MEDIA: ‘SHE DECIDED TO TAKE HER CLOTHES OFF AND CARRY OUT OBSCENE ACTS IN THE
STATION BUT WHAT WE, AS AN INSTITUTION, DEEPLY REGRET IS THAT WHAT SOME POLICE
OFFICERS DID WAS FILM WHAT THE WOMAN WAS DOING WITH THEIR MOBILE PHONES INSTEAD
OF STOPPING HER AND PROTECTING HER INTEGRITY. THEN THE VIDEO WAS PASSED ON VIA
WHATSAPP.
‘Our police force condemns this behaviour and disciplinary
and judicial investigations are underway.
‘The officers have been fully identified. One is a patrol
officer who drove the woman to the station, but another official is involved
for failing to assist her.’
Police apprehended Ms Martinez after an altercation at a
tejo game. Tejo is a traditional sport in Colombia often likened to an
explosive form of the popular French game Petanque.
Footage of the mother’s strip showed her lifting up her
middle finger at the person filming her while she was cuffed to a window before
raising her dress around her breasts and exposing her private parts.
Male prisoners in a nearby cell can be heard shouting as the
woman appears to lowers her red underwear.
Ms Martinez, who has already hired a lawyer to sue the
police and has openly spoken to local media about the video being shared
online, said: ‘This disgusting and shameful act they made me do just so I could
get a chair has left me with an injured foot. I can’t walk very well. But
emotionally I’m also very badly affected.’
Her lawyer Elmer Montana added: ‘Cali police chiefs should
offer a public apology to Katherine for this gender violence, perpetrated by
the police against her.’
Legal experts have said it is quite clear that if police
officer filmed the scenes, they are guilty of criminal behaviour and should
face the sack because they were responsible for the model’s ‘physical and moral
integrity’ after her arrest.
The police action’s were also criticised by Cali’s mayor
Maurice Armitage.
Fans offered their support last night, with one saying: ‘God
will guide you and you will come out of this okay.’
Another added on social media: ‘As a woman, I’m sorry about
what you went through. No-one has the right to judge you. Sadly we live in a
patriarchal and terribly macho system where women are treated as objects and
humiliated.’
