In October 2005, Pileggi filed a federal lawsuit on Flythe's behalf, alleging that Darby's police force had a pattern and practice of strip-search abuses.
Pileggi's arguments went to U.S. District Judge Jan E. DuBois, who was not impressed.
Significantly, the judge said Pileggi presented no evidence that Darby had such a blanket strip-search policy. As a result, he ruled that Flythe could not sue the town itself. Only Selimis' conduct would be on trial.
The ruling placed Flythe at a considerable disadvantage; courts usually grant police officers a lot of leeway for decisions made on the street, even when mistakes are made.
During a brief trial before U.S. Magistrate Judge Thomas J. Rueter, Selimis told the jury that she did not single out Flythe for special treatment. In fact, she testified, she had strip-searched more than 100 people in just two years.
She and her bosses argued strenuously that strip searches were an essential part of the war against drugs.
"We've brought people in that have two bags of marijuana in their pocket and 10 bags of marijuana in their rectum," Lt. Richard Gibney, Selimis' supervisor, testified.
Because of the limits on the case, the jury never learned that many municipalities strictly control strip searches.
Darby Chief Robert F. Smythe did not appear as a witness in the case and did not responded to requests for comments for this article.
Pileggi also said he was blocked from calling former Darby Mayor Paula M. Brown, who says she was regularly asked to help strip-search women prisoners when she was in office from 1998 to 2006.
Frequently, she said, police requested searches that were clearly unconstitutional. "I refused more than I conducted," she said in an interview.
The jury quickly ruled against Flythe.
In interviews afterward, jurors said they believed police could strip-search anyone entering jails, even people arrested for minor offenses.
Foreman Roger Ruggles, 53, an engineering professor at Lafayette College in Easton, Pa., said jurors were swayed by arguments about jail safety. Jurors also didn't think Flythe's search sounded that terrible.
"If they conducted the strip search in the lobby, now, that's wrong," said Ruggles.
As for Flythe, she was determined to appeal, but another lawyer declined the case. Even if she won, he said, Darby was too impoverished to pay much in damages.
Flythe knows there is little more she can do. But she still holds out hope that her fight will make a difference.
"It may be justice for someone else," she said, "a step toward some type of justice for good citizens."
Contact staff writer Mark Fazlollah at 215-854-5831 or mfazlollah@phillynews.com.
