By LARRY NEUMEISTER
Associated Press

NEW YORK - A federal appeals court on Wednesday said police violated the constitutional rights of a woman by subjecting her to a strip search she claims was broadcast throughout a police station in the glitzy Long Island community of Southampton.

The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan reinstated a lawsuit brought by Stacey Hartline, who was 21 in January 2003 when a police officer stopped the truck she was driving because it was missing a rear license plate.

After spotting a stem of a marijuana plant on the truck's floor, the officer took her to the village's police station, where she was strip-searched by a female police officer. When she was released, she saw a television monitor with images of the cell where she was strip-searched.

Hartline, who was released on a misdemeanor marijuana charge that was later dismissed, claims the strip search was telecast to male police officers for their amusement. She is seeking compensatory and punitive damages.

A three-judge panel of the appeals court agreed that her constitutional right to be free from unreasonable search and seizure had been violated.

It even suggested that her lawyer refile the lawsuit to add an additional claim that Southampton's strip-search policy violates laws meant to protect against gender discrimination by strip-searching women in situations in which men are not strip-searched.

The appeals court said the arresting officer did not have enough evidence to perform an arrest, much less allow her to be strip-searched, since no useable narcotics were found in her vehicle and he saw nothing suspicious in Hartline's actions to suggest she was hiding anything.

"Ultimately, if the facts of this case amount to reasonable suspicion, then strip searches will become commonplace," the appeals court wrote.

The village's lawyer did not immediately return a call for comment.

Hartline, now 27, said she is still haunted by the experience.

"It's very hard to sit back and challenge a municipality," she said. "It's frightening. I've lived in this town my whole life. I love Southampton. The relief I feel is tremendous. I'm so pleased this won't happen to anyone else."