New York woman says she was detained over a migraine, then the police report claimed she’d been in a crash that never happened

A New York woman says she was detained by police after suffering a severe migraine while driving, only to later receive a report claiming she had been in a car crash that never happened. According to The Nerd Stash, she shared her account under the username Short-Mongoose5641 in an online legal advice community.

Her post describes the migraine starting on a nighttime drive home, set off by the glare from oncoming headlights. The pain grew severe enough that she had to stop the car and was sick on the side of the road, so the friend riding with her stepped in to drive the rest of the way. A police officer noticed the commotion and stopped to investigate. She says officers ran her through standard field sobriety checks and had her blow into a breathalyzer, which registered no alcohol in her system.

Officers then brought her to a Drug Recognition Expert, a specially trained officer certified to evaluate whether impairment is caused by drugs rather than alcohol, typically through a standardized 12-step process that includes eye exams, vital sign checks, and coordination tests. She says she was subjected to hours of additional testing, including light tests in a dark room that made her migraine significantly worse and caused her to vomit repeatedly.

What migraines actually do to the body

Photophobia, or extreme sensitivity to light, affects roughly 80 percent of people who experience migraines, according to WebMD, and can be severe enough that sufferers need to lie down in a completely dark room to find relief. Nausea and vomiting are also common migraine symptoms, driven by changes in brain chemistry that affect the body’s vomiting center, per the same source.

Migraine attacks can last anywhere from four to 72 hours in adults, according to Mayo Clinic, and are often accompanied by sensitivity to light, sound, and smell alongside the head pain itself. No charges or citations followed, and she was eventually allowed to leave. What followed was a notice stating her license had been suspended following a physician’s evaluation, one that claimed she had been in a “motor vehicle crash where I lost consciousness,” a detail she says never happened.

She also alleges the police report she received was filled with inaccuracies, describing events that either didn’t occur or were left out entirely. Allegations of police misconduct captured after the fact have drawn scrutiny in similar cases, including a North Carolina officer who was charged with assault after doorbell footage showed him repeatedly striking a woman during an arrest.

She later clarified in the comments that she had been detained rather than arrested. Still, the extent of the testing, the alleged inaccuracies in the report, and the resulting license suspension left many commenters questioning whether her Fourth Amendment rights had been violated. The Fourth Amendment protects against unreasonable searches and seizures. Courts have generally required that any detention beyond the scope of an initial traffic stop be backed by reasonable suspicion of additional wrongdoing.

Several users urged her to consult a lawyer and gather documentation to support her case. One highly upvoted comment suggested she obtain a report from a neurologist, though she noted that appointments at nearby clinics were booking six months or more out, some located up to two hours away. Other commenters recommended she request bodycam footage to challenge the officer’s version of events.

One wrote, “Regardless of whether the police had probable cause, lying in the police report was inexcusable.” As for what she plans to do next, she says she has stopped driving altogether while she sorts things out. “It’s going to be incredibly stressful financially, but I’d rather err on the side of caution in this case,” she said.

The police department involved has not publicly commented on the allegations, and it is unclear whether they were contacted for a response.