New Charge Of Cop Misconduct

A fourth woman says she was forced to strip during a police stop on New York's Long Island.

The woman is the fourth to file a complaint charging that a Suffolk county highway patrolman made her take off her clothes following an alleged traffic violation.

Two of the women identified the officer as Frank Wright, a 12-year veteran of the force. He's been suspended without pay.

The district attorney's office is expected to present the case to a grand jury to determine if any crime was committed.

The latest woman to complain says an officer pulled her over for allegedly driving erratically on New Year's Day. The 46-year-old woman from Mastic Beach, N.Y. said an officer forced her to unzip her sweatshirt after pulling her car over just after midnight on New Year's Day. The officer did not administer any alcohol tests.

The woman was returning from a supermarket in Shirley and was pulled over on William Floyd Parkway, explaining that her car had swerved as she tried to retrieve her cell phone from the floor.

Wright, a 12-year veteran, has admitted telling one of the four women that "he made men take their clothes off and walk home naked for drunk driving but that he never suggested that she do it," Suffolk County Police Commissioner John Gallagher said, recounting the officer's statement to investigators.

Despite the comment, Gallagher said, the officer denied actually making men or women take their clothes off in the past.

"He said while his attention was diverted, she took her clothing off," Gallagher recounted of Wright's response to the first complaint.

The county is facing a massive lawsuit over the allegations.

Two of the four women who have filed complaints with the department have each filed $15 million notices of claim against the county and Suffolk Police Department, the first step in a lawsuit. The third woman claims Wright implied that she should pull up her blouse for him.

Two of the woman identified Wright by name; one said he looked like the officer who forced her to strip, police said.

One of the first two women to file complaints, a 27-year-old woman, claims the officer pulled her over after a New Year's Eve party. And she says when she flunked a sobriety test, he forced her to walk home in her underwear to teach her a lesson.

Another woman filed a similar complaint this week and the police chief wants to hear from anybody else who may have been treated that way.

The police commissioner also said the FBI was reviewing the allegations. FBI officials did not immediately return a call for comment.