After York Regional Police officers arrested Ms. Lee for impaired operation of a motor vehicle, they took her to the local police station for breathalyzer tests. When a pat-down search conducted at the station revealed that she was wearing an underwire bra, she was told to remove it. In the presence of a female police officer, Ms. Lee took off her shirt and sweater along with her bra. As a result, her breasts were exposed for a brief period of time. She was convicted at trial but her appeal was allowed as the Court concluded that the trial judge had failed to correctly apply the following test: whether the police had reasonable and probable grounds for concluding that a strip search was necessary in the particular circumstances of the appellant’s arrest. R. v. Lee, 2013 ONSC 1000
The Court in R. v. Bouchard, 2011 ONCJ 610 (a case reviewed in this blog on January 7, 2012) reached a similar conclusion.