Anette Sorensen's Strip Search Lawsuit

In May 1997, a Danish woman named Anette Sorensen left her 14-month-old daughter in a stroller outside a Manhattan restaurant while she and the baby's father dined inside, a common practice in Denmark. Sorensen repeatedly checked on the blanket-covered baby during their hour inside, but another patron called the police. Officers arrested both parents for child endangerment, strip-searched Sorensen, and temporarily placed her daughter with child welfare authorities before prosecutors dropped the charges. Sorensen then filed a $20 million false-arrest lawsuit, and in 1999, a jury awarded her $66,000 after finding that authorities should not have strip-searched her.

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