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OFF THE WIRE
Police chief, detective added to lawsuit
By Jack Johnson, Boulder City Review
Boulder City Police Chief Thomas Finn and detective Scott Pastore have
been added to a federal civil rights lawsuit alleging they violated the
civil rights of members of the Mongols Motorcycle Club during the club’s
June meeting at Boulder Inn & Suites.
The amended lawsuit
states that Finn and Pastore violated the club’s 14th Amendment right
to have equal protection under the law during the June 22-24 meeting,
and the club’s First Amendment right to peacefully assemble.
The lawsuit was initially filed June 25 by the Las Vegas Confederation
of Clubs, an association including the Mongols and 36 other biker
organizations, in response to events unrelated to the Mongols’ Boulder
City gathering.
The plaintiffs, also including 33 individuals, are seeking $2.2 million plus punitive damages.
Original defendants include the Metropolitan Police Department, the
North Las Vegas Police Department, Clark County Sheriff Doug Gillespie,
North Las Vegas Chief of Police Joseph Chronister and 19 individual
police officers.
The lawsuit detailed six encounters that
occurred between June 2010 and September 2011 that alleges violated the
First, Fourth and 14th Amendment rights of the clubs and individuals.
Finn and Pastore are being added as individuals. Neither Boulder City nor the police department are named in the lawsuit.
The complaint was amended Oct. 9 to include Finn and Pastore, because
Confederation attorney Stephen Stubbs says emails written by Finn and
Pastore surfaced, showing a conspiracy to selectively enforce laws
against the Mongols and prevent them from returning to Boulder City.
“The police were only enforcing laws against the Mongols that weekend,”
Stubbs said. “They were not enforcing laws against anyone else.”
Finn stated he could not comment on the lawsuit because it was pending litigation. Pastore could not be reached.
In a June 18 email written by Finn to City Attorney Dave Olsen and
Boulder City Municipal Court Judge Victor Miller, Finn states that the
several dozen law enforcement agencies working in Boulder City during
the Mongols event were taking a zero-tolerance approach.
Finn’s email also requests on behalf of all the agencies, if the court
and prosecutor would consider not making any deals with Mongols.
“Doing so would make it clear to the ‘Mongol Miscreants’ that Boulder
City does not tolerate bad behavior,” Finn states in the email.
Stubbs said 15 Mongols were cited for equipment violations during the
weekend, but other non-Mongols have come forward saying that they were
let off with warnings for equipment violations.
“If there was
zero tolerance against everybody, that would be different,” Stubbs said.
“But based on what happened, and that admission in that email that they
had zero tolerance against the Mongols, that is a clear 14th Amendment
violation,” Stubbs said.
Stubbs also said the Mongols’ equal
protection rights were violated when he and one of the members of the
Caruso family, which owns the Boulder Inn & Suites, tried to file a
complaint with Boulder City Police because Las Vegas police officers
trespassed on Boulder Inn & Suites property.
After being ignored by dispatch at the police station, Stubbs said he called Finn directly and was told to “quit bitching.”
“Regardless of whether we went to dispatch, when I made that report to
Chief Finn and he refused to act and refused to protect the Caruso’s
property, that was a 14th Amendment violation,” Stubbs said.
An interdepartmental email written by Pastore on June 27 thanks other
members of the Boulder City Police Department for “a job well done”
during the Mongol event, and states, “Everyone made an impact on keeping
our city free of (outlaw motorcycle gang) rallies such as these … I
don’t anticipate another rally, based on the results.”
Stubbs said Pastore’s email is less revealing than Finn’s, but expects more information to be revealed during the trial.
The Metropolitan Police Department also is being sued for actions that
allegedly occurred in Boulder City, including trespassing on the
Caruso’s property, as well as detaining people and pulling over a
vehicle without legal probable cause.
Stubbs also said it was
important to note that Boulder City is not being sued, because the
Mongols felt welcomed by the community.
“The Mongols
specifically do not want the people of Boulder City involved in this
lawsuit. They’re bending over backwards to make sure the wrong people
aren’t sued here.”
Finn and Pastore were served the case earlier this week. Stubbs said the original defendants should be served within a week.
Stubbs said he had held off on having the original lawsuit served
because it became clear soon after the original June 25 filing that the
lawsuit would be amended.
The parties have 21 days to respond to the lawsuit once they are served.