Nine Southeast Ohio residents are suing members of the Athens Police Department, the Ohio Department of Public Safety and the Athens County Sheriff's Office for an alleged raid on Lakeview Tavern in April 2004.
Betty Emmert, the manager on duty of Lakeview Tavern, and eight other people were in that building on April 29, 2004, when officers allegedly entered the building with guns drawn and searched everyone inside, according to a complaint filed in the U.S. District Court of Ohio. The other eight plaintiffs are: Kari Milard, Terrence Bishop, Ginger Potts Bishop, Stephanie A. Stover, Carl Williams II, Brett Walls, Kent Bumpass and Adam Casteel.
The complaint alleges that defendants Sue Ann Cook, the leader of the search, Robert Anderson and M.J. Smith of the Ohio Department of Public Safety; John Withers of the Athens Police Department; and Alan Flickenger and Steve Sedwick of the Athens County Sheriff's Office violated the tavern patrons' Fourth, Fifth, Sixth and 14th Amendment rights with an illegal search and seizure.
The lawsuit also lists John Doe members of each organization in case the investigation of the incident uncovers other people involved.
The plaintiffs are seeking a minimum of $25,000 each in compensatory and punitive damages.
The complaint alleges the defendants agreed to detain
search and run warrant checks on each and every person found on or near the premises of the Lakeview Tavern. The complaint also alleges the defendants did not have a search warrant, probable cause or reasonable or individualized suspicion to search the plaintiffs when they entered the building at 8:30 p.m. The warrant obtained at 10:05 p.m. to search Lakeview Tavern was not an all persons warrant that would allow the search of everyone in the building, according to the complaint.
Kari Milard suffered an asthma attack and alleges she was not allowed to get her inhaler from her purse for 20 minutes, even though an officer had searched her purse and found nothing illegal, according to the complaint.
Betty Emmert, the manager, alleges she was not shown a warrant of any kind when the officers entered. She also alleges that the officers used excessive force, swinging her around against a brick wall and injuring her back.
The complaint states Sue Ann Cook and other officers entered Lakeview Tavern to serve notices of alleged past liquor license violations and to conduct a liquor licensing inspection.
Sky Pettey, the attorney for the defendants, declined to comment while litigation was in progress. The plaintiffs' attorney, William J. Cole, could not be reached for comment.
Judge Norah McCann King signed the preliminary pretrial order Mar. 15, with the final pretrial conference scheduled for June 2007. No jury trial has been scheduled yet. 17
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Rebecca Black
