Metro

Rape survivor: State trooper stripped and abused me

A Brooklyn rape survivor says her body was repeatedly probed and prodded by an overzealous state trooper determined to prove she was a drug mule, according to a lawsuit.

The humiliating, terrifying ordeal began for Diana Hardy, 29, at a traffic stop on a dark, rural Hudson Valley road last year, and ended with “sexualized” pat-downs, three strip searches, a body-cavity check and finally an X-ray, she claims in Manhattan federal court.

Hardy and her boyfriend, Mark McKoy, were driving to upstate Clayton so the young woman could temporarily live with her mother, who had just had surgery.

The two were pulled over by Trooper Robert Baird, who claimed that they were speeding and that the car was reported stolen before he allegedly stuck his hand in Hardy’s purse and discovered a nearly empty prescription bottle of a generic version of Ambien, she charges.

After two “sexualized” pat downs, Baird quizzed Hardy about the pills before he and his partner illegally searched the couple’s van, they claim.

The officers discovered a miscellaneous collection of Hardy’s belongings in a box — and leaped to wild conclusions, the couple charge.

In a container holding items ranging from cosmetics and personal papers to batteries, coins, pens and first-aid items, Baird also found personal lubricant, a sex toy, condoms and a half-full package of balloons from a child’s birthday party, and immediately accused Hardy of hiding drugs in a body cavity, the suit says.

“He seemed to become enraged and handcuffed [her], demanding to know why she ‘needed lube,’ crudely asking if McKoy was ‘really that big’ and stating that he had a ‘gut feeling’ [she] was smuggling drugs inside her body,” Hardy alleges.

She was hauled to the barracks, shackled to a wall and strip-searched three times, Hardy claims.

Hardy wept through a body-cavity search, but even though a doctor also failed to find proof, the trooper wouldn’t back down, and demanded an X-ray. The X-ray showed that Hardy had no contraband in her body, she says.

The couple were finally released after they paid to have their van towed to the police barracks in Monroe.

State police declined to comment on the litigation. Baird could not be reached for comment.