OFF THE WIRE
agingrebel,com
Eagle Nation Cycles in Neenah, Wisconsin and four individuals have
filed a federal civil rights lawsuit against the City of Neenah, its
police department, its police chief, one of the city’s police captains
and the judge who signed the search warrant that authorized a Swat raid
on the shop in September 2012.
“The warrant laid out claims against Eagle Nation, claiming the
facility was being used in a complex drug manufacturing and distribution
operation in conjunction with the Hells Lovers motorcycle gang and
suggested activities and persons in the facility as if it were an
episode of the television series, Sons of Anarchy,” the suit alleges.
The Swat Raid
The complaint states: “On Friday, September 21, 2012 shortly after
1:00 PM members of the Neenah Police Department, the Neenah Swat Team
and the LWAMEG (Lake Winnebago Area Metropolitan Enforcement Group)
executed the warrant for ‘Eagle Nation Choppers’ on all of the
facilities located at the 206 Main St. business complex. Supervising the
raid was Neenah Police Chief Kevin E. Wilkinson. The hyper-militarized
force parked an arnored tank-like vehicle outside of Eagle Nation,
stormed the building, bombarding the occupants with assault weapons
drawn, screaming profanities and abuse, all while wearing plain clothes
(ununiformed) and facemasks. None of the initial officers that entered
the building were wearing marked police uniforms. Several of the
Officers involved in the raid, including Captain Long would have known
that such force was wholly unnecessary, given their close personal and
long-standing working relationship with (bike shop owner Steven) Erato
and Eagle Nation Cycles.”
The warrant was issued after members of the Metropolitan Enforcement
Group “observed an alleged drug exchange take place in the alleyway
located behind Eagle Nation Cycles…and Gords Pub…. After pulling the car
over that was involved in the exchange, MEG determined that a small
heroin sale took place.”
“Officers claimed that the target went into Eagle Nation.”
“Inspection of the location reveals that from where affiant was
standing, it is a physical impossibility to see the rear entrance of
Eagle Nation. This would be known to anyone even remotely familiar with
this area of Neenah, Wisconsin.”
Neenah in The News
Neenah has a population of about 25,000. The Neenah Swat Team and its
many implements of war including a “nine-foot-tall armored
truck…intended for an overseas battlefield” was the subject of a feature
story by Matt Apuzzo in the New York Times Last June titled “War Gear Flows to Police Departments.”
“When the military’s mine-resistant trucks began arriving in large
numbers last year, Neenah and places like it were plunged into the
middle of a debate over whether the post-9/11 era had obscured the lines
between soldier and police officer,” Apuzzo wrote.
In the Times feature, Police Chief Wilkinson defended the
militarization of his department. “I don’t like it. I wish it were the
way it was when I was a kid,” he said. But he said the possibility of
violence, however remote, required taking precautions. “We’re not going
to go out there as Officer Friendly with no body armor and just a
handgun and say ‘Good enough.’”
Eagle Nation Cycles and the other complainants are seeking $50
million in punitive damages, $200,000 in compensatory damages and
$200,000 in lost income.
