Police pile-on draws Ohio AG's interest

The bizarre case of Hope Steffey, the Salem, Ohio, woman who was forcibly stripped naked by a mixed-sex mob of Stark County sheriff's deputies after being arrested and dragged to jail by the officer responding to an assault complaint in which Steffey was the victim, is drawing high-level attention. First, Gerald McFaul, the sheriff of Cuyahoga County, criticized Stark County deputies, saying their conduct was "way out of line" and that male deputies should never forcibly remove the clothes of a female. Now, Stark County Sheriff Tim Swanson has formally asked the Ohio Attorney General to investigate the incident. This is quite a turnabout from his earlier claims that his deputies behaved properly, and that the policy requiring strip searches to be conducted by officers of the same sex as the prisoner didn't apply because, while Steffey was stripped, she wasn't actually searched.

Apparently, it was all just good fun.

Swanson's change of heart comes as video of the jail-house assault on Steffey hits the airwaves and the Internet, allowing people to see the actual incident for themselves.

Swanson just might be trying to get ahead of the wave of revulsion that could make the Steffey family's federal lawsuit a winner.