A Lawrence man claims police and sheriff’s officers kicked him, made him lie in a body bag and used a vacuum cleaner nozzle on his genitals and buttocks while they arrested him three years ago.

Now, Shawn McCormick, 28, is suing the officers for damages in excess of $75,000.

An attorney for the officers denied the allegations.

In the lawsuit, filed this month in Douglas County District Court, McCormick said that about 7:30 p.m. on June 9, 1999, he was returning home in the 2100 block of Melholland Road when officers removed him from his car, handcuffed him and put him in a patrol car.

McCormick said there had been a disturbance in the patrol car and officers pulled him out, forced him to the ground and kicked him. They then allegedly ordered McCormick to remove his clothes.

After the officers used the vacuum nozzle on him, McCormick claims the officers said he should be prepared for such treatment because it would occur in prison and “that’s where he would be sent.”

McCormick said police deprived him of his rights through illegal searches and seizures and use of excessive force. He said they also had denied him medical treatment.

According to an item published June 11, 1999, in the Journal-World, Shawn P. McCormick was arrested June 9, 1999, on a probable-cause warrant alleging possession with intent to sell cocaine. He was booked into the Douglas County Jail at 8:21 p.m. and then released pending results of drug testing.

In March 2000, possession of cocaine and other drug charges were filed against McCormick. In July he pleaded no contest to seven counts alleging possession of cocaine, possession of drug paraphernalia, tax stamp violations and assault on a law enforcement officer. All the sentences ran concurrently, with the longest sentence running for 20 months.

McCormick’s Overland Park attorney, Theodore J. Lickteig, declined to comment on the lawsuit. McCormick, who is eligible for release this month from Lansing Correctional Facility, could not be reached for comment.

According to court documents filed during the criminal case against McCormick, officers placed McCormick in a police car while searching his house. An officer saw McCormick trying to stuff a plastic bag in the car seat. White powder was found on McCormick’s fingers and his pants.

Officers took McCormick from the car, placed him on the ground and brought out a “crime scene vacuum,” according to the report. An officer then used the vacuum to recover more powder from the “front passenger seat, ground and McCormick’s person,” the report states.

The court file also contains a memorandum filed by McCormick’s attorney at the time, Jim Rumsey, on a motion for suppressing evidence obtained during a body cavity search. The motion says the body search was done without a warrant.

Allegations contained in Rumsey’s motion against police are the same ones in McCormick’s civil lawsuit. Those allegations say McCormick was made to strip nude and lie on the body bag while officers stood around him so passers-by couldn’t see.

Gerald Cooley, an attorney representing the city of Lawrence, said he had learned about the allegations in the civil suit two weeks ago and had met with each Lawrence officer named in the lawsuit. He said he had talked with city commissioners and an investigation into the claims is continuing.

“All of the events related to the arrest occurred on a public street adjacent to a single-family neighborhood in broad daylight,” Cooley said. “The city and its officers deny the arrest occurred the way the plaintiff alleges.”

The officers named in the suit are Mike McAtee, Steve Verbanic, Lance Flachsbarth, John Hanson, Mike Schneider, Terry Haak, Troy Squire, Mark Warren, David Hubbel and several other unknown Lawrence Police and Douglas County Sheriff’s officers.