OFF THE WIRE
Las Vegas, NV (KTNV) - There's claims of discrimination over the state's helmet laws. According to the Las Vegas Sun, several motorcyclists are suing the county and five cities. The lawsuit claims the enforcement is arbitrary and discriminatory.
The Las Vegas Sun is reporting the suit was filed in U.S. District Court and could impact 40,000 motorcycle riders in Clark County.
Fred Harrell is one of the top guys at the Las Vegas Harley-Davidson store on Eastern. We asked him flat out if he thinks there's discrimination involved with enforcing Nevada's helmet law.
"I don't know, I would like to think not, however this is the real world," Fred Harrell answered.
In the real world, Fred says he's heard a lot of talk. According to a Las Vegas Sun article twelve motorcycle riders filed a class action lawsuit against Clark County and five cities within it. The suit claims the cities and county have an ongoing pattern of issuing helmet tickets to riders that are not supported by constitutionally sufficient probable cause.
Action News found one rider who's says he's seen it first hand.
"Yes, I have, as far as the skully, the peanut helmets we are not allowed to wear those," motorcycle rider, Dushawn Pitchferd, says.
Fred says he agrees the issue is with the actual helmets. A number of Harley helmets have DOT stickers, which certifies a certain amount of testing. But Fred explains a number of motorcyclists complain they're still getting tickets even with the stickers because the standard for Nevada's helmet law isn't clear enough.
"When you wear the full face helmet, not an issue, when you wear something like this, (holding a half helmet) you're being pulled over because it doesn't look like you have an approved helmet," Fred says.
Fred says Nevada has no testing facility of its own and that makes it difficult to say what helmet is 100% legal and what could get you a ticket.
The lawsuit also claims a number of cases are dropped once they reach the appeals court level. So if you can afford to appeal your case, it will be dropped. If not, you have to pay.
This lawsuit hasn't been made fully public yet, as soon as it does we will get further details and bring them to you.
