Woman's Bloody Tampon Pulled Out By Cop Publicly. City Offers $20500 Settlement

The city council of San Antonio will vote on a settlement to award Natalie Simms more than $200,000. Simms, a resident of San Antonio, had filed a lawsuit against the city of San Antonio, Texas and former San Antonio Police Department detective Mara Wilson for vaginally searching her in public.

Simms, now 40, was waiting for her boyfriend’s while sitting on a side street on Aug. 8, 2016. She was engrossed in a telephonic conversation when the police approached her and asked to search her car under the impression she was ferrying illegal drugs. Officers of the San Antonio Police Department were patrolling the area in the wake of alleged drug activities.

Simms stepped aside letting the officers search her car. Wilson proceeded to search Simms, even though the officer reportedly did not have a proper warrant at the time.

"Do you have anything on you?" Wilson had asked Simms, as per a transcript of dash-cam footage included as evidence in the lawsuit.

Footage showed Wilson searching Simms' pockets and then asking her to "spread your legs". When asked if Simms was hiding anything down there, she said "no" and informed the officer that she was on her period.

"Officer Wilson intended to reach down into Natalie's pants and made contact with her pubic hair and vagina," said the lawsuit.

Wilson went on to pull open Simms' pants and underwear in the presence of five male officers watching and used a "flashlight to look at the area". After noticing the tampon string, Wilson ⁠— fully aware that Simms was on her period — pulled out the bloody tampon from her vagina, in public on the road.

Wilson reportedly asked if it was a tampon to which a shocked Simms' said, "It's full of blood, right? Why would you do that?"

Wilsen had replied, "I don't know. It looked like it had stuff in there."

Wilson had also made obscene comments that Simms was "very hairy" and had asked her to turn around so she could be searched again.

"Natalie had not consented to such a search, seizure, and/or use of force," read the lawsuit. "She was doing so without a warrant, with no medical personnel present, and on a public street in view of several people as well as those passing by."

No contraband was found during the search and Simms was allowed to leave.

Officer Wilson was allowed to retire from her services in 2017.

She filed a lawsuit against the city and the detective last year. "Natalie suffered through a shocking display of what can occur when police power is unchecked. Natalie was humiliated and degraded as a result of the police officer's actions," said her attorney Dean Malone to WOAI in March 2018.

The city has proposed a settlement worth $205 000 (about R3 million) to Simms, and the council will vote on the offer on Thursday.

Wilson retired nine months after the infamous encounter with Simms.