ATLANTA — In an exclusive interview with Channel 2 Action News reporter Eric Philips, Shawn Venegas goes public for the first time about a traffic stop involving the Atlanta Police Department’s Red Dog Unit that he says changed his life.

“I feel like I’ve been molested by another man. I feel like I’ve been raped,” said 29-year-old Shawn Venegas. “It’s degrading is what it is.”

“I’m furious and I’ve never been mad all the time before in my life and that’s how I am,” Venegas said.

Venegas was driving with his friend, Brian Kidd, along Fulton Street in downtown Atlanta last June when three officers with the Red Dog unit pulled them over — they said without explaining why — and started searching for drugs.

“He had his gun pointed right at my face and said, ‘Get your hands up. Get your hands up.’ I said, ‘Sir, I just got out of school,’” Venegas said.

He said officers searched the car and private parts of both men but didn’t stop there. Venegas told Channel 2 that one of the officers did a body cavity search on him.

“That’s just disgusting,” Venegas said. “In broad daylight, in downtown Atlanta with cars passing by.”

“I had to look away because I couldn’t watch my friend be done like that,” said Kidd.”

Atlanta police are investigating the claim. The three officers have been placed on administrative duty. On Monday, Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed spoke out about the investigation for the first time, promising that it would be swift and thorough.

“Just like we can’t break the law, they can’t either,” Venegas said. “And that’s why I’m doing this for the people of Atlanta so this stops.”