OFF THE WIRE
By Paul Takahashi
The Mongols motorcycle club is filing a complaint with the Clark County
District Attorney's Office this week, alleging the Boulder City Police
Department targeted its members for harassment and tried to destroy evidence of
possible civil rights abuses during the club's national meeting in Boulder City
this past summer.
Stephen Stubbs, a Las Vegas tax attorney representing the Mongols bikers,
shared internal police department emails – which Stubbs said he had verified as
authentic – Thursday with District Attorney Steve Wolfson to back up the
Mongols’ allegations against Boulder City Police.
In one leaked email to City Attorney Dave Olsen and Judge Victor Miller,
Police Chief Thomas Finn asked the court to adopt a "zero tolerance" approach in
prosecuting any ordinance violations, traffic violations and other misdemeanors
against the "Mongol Miscreants."
"As part of our zero tolerance approach, all the law enforcement agencies
have asked if our court and prosecutor would consider 'no deals' when the
misdemeanors are adjudicated," Finn wrote. "Doing so would make it clear to the
'Mongol Miscreants' that Boulder City does not tolerate bad behavior."
In another leaked email, Finn suggested to 31 city employees that they delete
all emails related to their preparations for the Mongols gathering in June.
"If they submit a records request for them, it would obviously show our hand
and divulge the strategies and staffing levels we need to keep confidential,"
Finn wrote. "Therefore, please delete any and all emails related to the event
immediately."
Finn did not respond to requests for comments. City Manager Vicki Mayes, who
is one of the recipients of Finn's email – declined to comment.
Stubbs argued that both emails are evidence of police profiling of Mongols
members, which he said was in violation of their civil rights. Furthermore,
Finn's request to delete emails is tantamount to destroying evidence that could
be used in court – a gross misdemeanor offense punishable up to one year in
prison, Stubbs said.
"Those (email) records belong to the public," Stubbs said. "This is a police
chief who willfully is destroying evidence and is telling his department to
destroy evidence."
The District Attorney's Office declined to comment Thursday afternoon.
This complaint represents the latest salvo in a months-long federal lawsuit
against local police departments by the Southern Nevada Confederation of Clubs,
a Las Vegas-based organization that includes 37 local motorcycle clubs.
The lawsuit – filed in late June one day after the Mongols' national meeting
in Boulder City – alleges that members of the Mongols, Bandidos, Vagos and Stray
Cats motorcycle clubs were "unlawfully targeted and harassed" by police officers
from Boulder City, Metro and North Las Vegas over the past several years.
The motorcycle clubs’ grievances range from arrest of members on a false
warrant and trespassing on a private event to questionable police stops and
police brutality.
In one incident, a male police officer allegedly groped a female biker during
a stop. In another incident, a police officer allegedly pushed a biker's head
against a police car, detained him for more than an hour and slammed the car
door on his foot, breaking it.
The suit, which was amended earlier this month to include more incidents,
seeks damages of $75,000 on each claim for relief and also punitive and
exemplary damages in excess of $75,000.
Stubbs, who represents the motorcycle confederation, said the quiet and calm
Mongols gathering this summer demonstrated good behavior on the part of the
bikers. The same could not be said for some of the police officers, he
added.
"These bikers have the same constitutional rights as anybody else," Stubbs
said. "It's offensive that some police officers would violate their rights, the
same ones they are sworn to protect."