Suit Alleges Minn. Police Violated Woman's Rights

ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — A federal lawsuit accuses Gaylord police, the Sibley County sheriff's office and others of violating a woman's constitutional rights when she was detained last year.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Minnesota filed the lawsuit on behalf of Jesus Mendoza Sierra of Gaylord. The suit alleges Sierra's rights were violated when police and deputies took her into custody and interrogated her in March 2012.

Sierra was detained after the driver of the car she was a passenger in was arrested. But the ACLU says Sierra was never charged.

The lawsuit alleges that officers assumed Sierra was in the U.S. illegally. The suit says Sierra was released only after officers took her to her home to look at her immigration documents.

Sibley County Attorney David Schauer had no comment Tuesday.

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