Imagine being handcuffed, dragged into the woods, and strip searched by the side of the road. That's what one Gulf County man says happened to him.

Anthony Bryan McDaniel, 23, and his family say officers violated his rights and the law in what should've been a routine traffic stop, but law enforcement says they did nothing wrong.

McDaniel was in a truck with another man on April 28, 2007. The two were in a pickup going over the Highland View Bridge around 4:00 p.m. ET, when they were stopped by a Gulf County Sheriff's Deputy.

According to the incident report from the Gulf County Sheriff's Office, the truck was clocked going 85 mph in a 45 mph zone.

The pair pulled over on Industrial Road, and according to documents, at least seven Gulf County and two Port St. Joe officers came on the scene shortly after.

McDaniel's mother says he is still traumatized by the experience that followed.

Although accounts of the incident vary, at least four officers say McDaniel was taken into the woods by the side of the road and strip searched. According to the incident report, two officers pulled down McDaniel's pants and underwear to check for drugs or weapons. Kim McDaniel finds the officers’ actions appalling.

"They physically took his clothes off, attempted to do a body cavity search. He resisted. They picked him back up off the ground, put his clothes back on and took him off to jail," says his mother, Kim.

Bryan McDaniel didn't want to talk on camera for fear of retaliation, but his mom is outraged about how police treated her son.

"I was very upset. I cried for awhile. I was confused, because I couldn't imagine that ever happening to anybody. I mean to be stripped down naked on the side the road is pretty bad, especially by police officers," says Kim McDaniel.

Bryan McDaniel was taken to the Gulf County Jail, where he spent eight months behind bars on another charge.

His mother has spent the time since the incident, trying to get answers. She says she believes laws were broken in the incident.

There is no video or other recording of what happened. The incident report says the tape in the deputy's car had run out, and News 13 has been told none of the other cars' cameras were recording.

McDaniel was charged with fleeing and eluding and reckless driving, but those charges were dropped due to lack of evidence. A charge of driving with a suspended or revoked license still stands.

“You think when you're driving down the road, and you get pulled over by an officer you're safe to stop. Then you know a mother, being a mother, you never want your child exposed to that, especially not by police officers. You know if I took somebody in the woods and took their clothes off then that would be sexual battery or rape, attempted rape,” she says.

Kim McDaniel says the strip search was conducted illegally, in plain sight of any passing cars. She filed a formal complaint with the Gulf County Sheriff's Office about what happened to her son.

In a summary of the internal investigation, then-Sheriff Dalton Upchurch wrote that his employees were not involved in the search and turned it over to the city.

The City of Port St. Joe forwarded reports from both the Sheriff's Office and City Police investigations to an outside attorney.

In a letter to the city manager, attorney Thomas Gibson wrote, "While there may be some question about whether or not Mr. McDaniel was moved far enough into the woods so that he could not be observed... he was sufficiently out of sight so that no one not involved in the arrest actually observed the search."

Gibson concluded the Port St. Joe officer was “not in violation of Florida statutes or Department policy with regard to the search.”

Kim McDaniel doesn't buy it.

“It should never been allowed to strip search somebody on the side of the road. I mean, I know that that is wrong, and you cannot do that. A cavity search has to be done in a private room by a medical professional and a signed statement by the Sheriff allowing them to do that,” she says.

Port St. Joe Police, who declined an on-camera interview, said officers were not attempting a cavity search. They insist that visual strip searches, such as the one conducted on McDaniel, are legal and completely within an officer's rights.

McDaniel's family also says the internal investigations failed to hold officers accountable for discrepancies revealed during the investigation.

For instance, a lieutenant interviewed in the investigation by the Gulf County Sheriff's Office said there was "nothing unusual" at the stop and said he didn't see anyone take McDaniel into or out of the woods. However, in another interview for an internal investigation by the PSJ Police Department, described the entire search in detail.

Of the seven Gulf County deputies listed on the incident report, just four were interviewed.

One additional Gulf County employee was not listed on the incident report but is mentioned in the city’s investigation as one of the two officers who stripped McDaniel of his jeans.

After reading the investigative reports, Kim McDaniel is far from satisfied.

“I've been to the Sheriff. I went to the city. I've been to the State Attorney’s Office. I wrote the Governor two different times. I wrote the Civil Rights Division on several different occasions,” she says.

But officers point out discrepancies in what Bryan McDaniel said in his statement.

McDaniel says the officer who pulled their vehicle over, Lt. Larry Hightower, was present for the search, but none of the statements from the officers corroborate that.

McDaniel's account also says he wasn't handcuffed until after the strip search, but the officers say he was handcuffed before the search. McDaniel also contradicts himself on the subject of whether the officer used gloves.

“The only thing that I've managed to get out of the whole situation is my son needs to move out of this county, change his name,” she says.

Port St. Joe's City Manager tells News 13 a Sergeant from the Port St. Joe Police Department was given a verbal reprimand, because failing to record the citizen contact is against department policy.

According to the internal report, no disciplinary action was taken against the Sheriff's Office employees involved.

News 13 contacted Gulf County Sheriff Joe Nugent about this story, but he declined to comment. Nugent says the investigation was handled by former Sheriff Dalton Upchurch, and the case is closed. Nugent is listed on the incident report as being present.

Port St. Joe Police Chief David Barnes was not head of the department at the time of the incident.