ACLU sues Detroit over controversial gallery raid
http://www.freep.com/article/2010021...t-over-08-raid
BY DAVID ASHENFELTER
FREE PRESS STAFF WRITER
The ACLU of Michigan sued the City of Detroit in federal court today over a controversial 2008 police raid at the Contemporary Art Institute of Detroit where more than 100 partygoers were ticketed for loitering and their cars impounded.
“The City of Detroit is riding roughshod over the Bill of Rights by seizing cars from innocent people and refusing to return them unless they pay a $900 ransom,” ACLU legal director Michael Steinberg said in a news release after filing the suit in U.S. District Court. “This practice is the ultimate Motor City shakedown.”
The Detroit Police Department said it couldn’t comment on pending litigation other than to say that the $900 fee motorists had to pay to get their cars back is controlled by the Wayne County Prosecutor’s Office, not the city, although the police department receives 75% percent of the fee.
Gun-toting cops wearing masks and commando-style clothing burst into the institute’s monthly members-only Funk Night party shortly after 2 a.m. May 31, 2008, because the owner of the facility had failed to obtain the necessary permits to serve alcohol.
In the hours that followed, the cops ticketed 116 people and towed 44 vehicles. The city agreed to dismiss the tickets after the ACLU intervened on the grounds that the partygoers – mostly young, suburban college students – had no idea the institute didn’t have the necessary permits.
But authorities refused to return the $900 penalty or the towing and daily storage fees that patrons had to pay to get their cars back. One man’s car was stolen while sitting in an impound lot.
"In a free country, the police may not conduct commando-style raids on innocent people and seize their property without justification," Steinberg added.
The ACLU asked U.S. District Judge Victoria Roberts to halt the city’s practice of seizing vehicles under a city ordinance and state nuisance abatement law. It likened the practice to seizing the vehicles of innocent bar patrons who didn’t know that the tavern owner was serving alcoholic beverages without a liquor permit.
The lawsuit said cops drove one mile to retrieve the car of one partygoer who had left his vehicle at a friend’s house and walked to the event. The suit also accused the police of using excessive force on some partygoers and forcing them to lay face-down in the mud until they were processed.
The plaintiffs included 9 people who attended the party and four parents whose vehicles were seized. The defendants include the city and two vice squad officers who led the raid.
Contact DAVID ASHENFELTER: dashenfelter@freepress.com.
