Lawsuit challenges Metro Police arrests, tactics at Las Vegas protests

By Ricardo Torres-Cortez

Tuesday, Sept. 29, 2020 | 7:15 p.m.

During several Black Lives Matter-inspired protests over the summer, Metro Police used excessive force, fired tear gas indiscriminately and made unnecessary arrests, according to a federal lawsuit filed Friday on behalf of seven protesters and legal observers.

The 66-page complaint seeks a jury trial, a permanent injunction on the department's use of crowd control, less-lethal tools, and unspecified monetary damage.

Sheriff Joe Lombardo, a Metro lieutenant, an officer, and several unknown officers are named in the suit. Metro doesn’t comment on pending litigation.

Protester Lance Downes-Covington, who’d participated in a prayer circle with friends and officers, describes being tackled by officers minutes later as he awaited a ride to leave a June 1 protest. 

That demonstration ended with a protester shot to death by Metro officers in downtown Las Vegas, and an officer shot and paralyzed as he tried to break up protesters three miles north on the Strip.

Downes-Covington, who said the experience was traumatic, alleges an officer told him “why don’t you stop (expletive) protesting?” when he inquired about his detention.  

Soldadera Sanchez, an activist and community organizer, alleges she suffered hearing damage when officers fired tear gas near her as she was trying to leave. 

The May 30 protest was one of the first to turn unruly in Las Vegas following the death of George Floyd under the knee of a Minneapolis police officer.

The same protest led to several arrests on federal charges, such as a man accused of impersonating a federal agent, a trio of men accused of torching a Metro cruiser, a trio of self-described members of the Boogaloo movement — a right-wing, anti-government group — and about half a dozen protesters who allegedly vandalized a federal courthouse or looted a pawn shop.

Also named as plaintiffs are legal observers Emily Driscoll and Gabriela Molina who got caught up in arrests made during a June 13 Strip protest in which officers, the lawsuit alleges, corralled participants and tear gassed them after giving what it called unclear dispersal orders. 

The observers said they were taken into custody after asking police the name of a protester they’d just arrested.

Plaintiff Alison Kenady also cites her experience during the same protest. “In her 20 years of protesting, Ms. Kenady has never seen anything like the police conduct she experienced at the June 13 protest,” the complaint reads. “Ms. Kenady perceived the police’s methods as akin to military tactics and felt the police were ‘out to get protesters’ specifically because of the subject matter of the BLM movement.”

Tenisha Martin attended a July 4 planned protest at Metro’s South Central Area Command, where participants planned to occupy the sidewalk for 24 hours, according to the lawsuit. 

When police broke off the protest, Martin and a couple family members who were heading to a vehicle were stopped by officers, who towed the car even when they had proof of it being a new acquisition with an appointment to register it. Officers handcuffed the trio. 

“Protests are ongoing and show no sign of ending, as newly reported incidents of police violence continue to shock and horrify the community,” the lawsuit said. “Likewise, Metro’s over-enforcement efforts, use of military tactics, and indiscriminate arrests of protestors continue to occur.”