ACLU sues Las Vegas police, Rio over searches of Black partygoers

The American Civil Liberties Union of Nevada on Monday sued Las Vegas police and the Rio after officers searched everyone at a birthday party at the hotel in 2018, arrested multiple people and then publicized it as a “gang party.”

According to an ACLU news release, which noted that all 34 people at the party were Black, the Rio was informed there would be a party on Aug. 18, 2018. But after 2 a.m. the following day, “police officers, escorted by hotel staff, stormed into the suite,” the release said.

“Each of the 34 guests was searched, handcuffed, and forced to sit in the hallway for up to 6 hours without access to water, food or restroom facilities,” the release said. “Officers administered pat-downs and record checks indiscriminately without any reasonable suspicion that any one individual had engaged, or would have engaged, in criminal activity.”

Shortly after the party, Metropolitan Police Department gang unit Capt. John Leon told the Review-Journal that officers were following up on an investigation when they broke up the party and 12 people were arrested. According to the complaint, gang unit detectives told officers there were three “alleged gang members” at the Rio — Cory Bass, who is named as a plaintiff, and two unnamed men who were not found at the party — according to the lawsuit.

Bass has not been convicted of a felony in Clark County, including felonies that mention gang activity, court records show.

Metropolitan Police Department spokesman Aden OcampoGomez said the department does not comment on pending litigation. Caesars Entertainment Corp., which operates the hotel, did not immediately respond to request for comment.

On Aug. 19, 2018, a Metro Twitter account posted that officers “broke up a large gang party” and that “over a dozen documented gang members were arrested and 5 firearms were recovered.”

Only two of the 12 people arrested have faced charges related to gang activity in Clark County. Neither man was convicted of the gang-related charges, court records show.

The complaint names Phillip Semper, Corey Johnson, Ashley Medlock, Cory Bass, Michael Green, Demarlo Riley, Breanna Nellums, Clinton Reece, Antonio Williams, Lonicia Bowie and Carlos Bass as plaintiffs. In addition to the Police Department and the Rio, the complaint specifically names defendants Clark County Sheriff Joe Lombardo; Metro officers Andrew Bauman, Matthew Kravetz, Supreet Kaur, David Jeong and Theron Young; and Rio employee John Carlisle.

Semper and Johnson, who were 24 and 41 at the time of the arrests, respectively, faced a felony charge of carrying a concealed weapon without a permit, but both cases have since been dismissed, court records show. The cases were dismissed after a judge found that the searches and arrests were unconstitutional, according to the complaint.

The judge found there was “no specific or credible evidence of any specific criminal gang activity” when police made the arrests, the complaint said.

According to the complaint, eight of the 11 named plaintiffs were arrested and taken to a jail, which includes Semper and Johnson. Medlock, Green, Nellums, Williams and Bowie were all arrested for outstanding traffic warrants, the complaint said.

In 2018, the gang unit captain told the Review-Journal that 10 of the 12 people arrested were arrested on outstanding warrants.

“The Rio knew we were having a birthday party when the room was booked, but instead of having a good time we were treated like criminals and harassed by the police and the hotel,” Medlock, one of the plaintiffs, was quoted as saying in the ACLU release. “Since when is it a crime to be Black and go to a birthday?”

The suit seeks unspecified monetary damages, along with injunctions from the court to stop Metro’s “party crasher” protocol, which includes unlawful searches, the complaint said. The plaintiffs are also seeking an injunction that would include establishing “clear and consistent” discipline for officers, a “warning system” to collect information on how many citizen complaints are made against each officer, and discipline for officers found to have “engaged in racial profiling.”

Contact Katelyn Newberg at knewberg@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0240. Follow @k_newberg on Twitter.