LAS VEGAS— The American Civil Liberties Union of Nevada filed a lawsuit against the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department and the Rio hotel on Monday over the department’s treatment of a party in one of the hotel’s suites.
On August 19, 2018, dozens gathered to celebrate a birthday party. Each of the 34 people in attendance that evening was black.
The ACLU in a statement said that the hotel knew there would be a party that night, and staff discussed the hotel’s noise policies with the ACLU of Nevada’s clients.
After 2 a.m., police officers, escorted by hotel staff, entered suite. 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, according to the ACLU.
The ACLU said the officers administered pat-downs and record checks indiscriminately without what they termed any “reasonable suspicion” that any one individual had engaged, or would have engaged, in criminal activity.
No person at the birthday celebration was arrested for criminal gang activity, yet Las Vegas police broadcast to the public on social media that it had “broke up a large gang party” where “over a dozen documented gang members were arrested.”
There’s been no comment on the lawsuit from either Metro Police or Caesars Entertainment, the parent company of the Rio.