OFF THE WIRE
Members of a motorcycle club called the "Sons of Hell" claim in a federal
lawsuit that they were treated unfairly by police.
The lawsuit contends
that cops violated their constitutional rights and treat them as a gang "based
solely on their associations and friendships with the Hells Angels Motorcycle
Club."
The bikers allege that a couple of hours after completely
unrelated murder/suicide that occurred near their campground south of Flagstaff,
officers from the Arizona Department of Public Safety, the Gang and Immigration
Intelligence Team Enforcement Mission task force, and the Coconino County
Sheriff's Office "forcibly removed Plaintiffs from their residences with assault
rifles and other firearms" at their camping spots.
"During the invasion,
Plaintiffs were handcuffed forced to lay on the cold ground, detained and
imprisoned for longer than three hours (some partially or mostly naked),
photographed, forced to answer questions in interrogation, forced to reveal
their tattoos for further photography, mocked, otherwise humiliated, yelled at,
and threatened with violence by Defendants, under color of their authority as
police officers," the lawsuit alleges.
This might be the reason that Sons
of Hell members were at the state capitol earlier this year, calling for
lawmakers to pass a bill about "motorcycle profiling."
The bill, which
failed, said police would need to take courses about not "using the sole fact
that a person rides a motorcycle or wears motorcycle-related paraphernalia as
the basis for taking any law enforcement action against the person, including
arresting, searching or questioning the person, without any other legal basis .
. ."
On the other hand, New Times has documented many instances of other
motorcycle clubs being involved in murders, shootings, bar brawls, and other
crimes.
So, should cops be allowed to profile bikers, when, for example,
they have a vest that reads "HELLS ANGELS" across the back?
http://blogs.phoenixnewtimes.com/valleyfever/2013/07/should_cops_be_allowed_to_prof.php
