New York Settles Hells Angels Suit Over Police Raid

New York Settles Hells Angels Suit Over Police Raid

NEW YORK (Reuters) - New York City has agreed to pay the local chapter of the Hells Angels Motorcycle Club a settlement that could reach $250,000 in return for dropping a civil rights suit alleging that police wrongfully raided its clubhouse, a lawyer for the group said on Monday.

Under the agreement, filed in Manhattan federal court, the city will pay $194,570 plus attorneys fees and expenses to 14 Hells Angels members and associates in exchange for dismissal of the suit.

Ronald Kuby, a lawyer for the group, said when fees and expenses are added, the settlement could reach a quarter of a million dollars.

The lawsuit alleged that the police broke down the door of the Hells Angels clubhouse without a warrant in April 2000. The officers also broke down doors to apartments within the clubhouse to search for individuals who allegedly had beaten two people at a local bar.

Kuby said the police had acknowledged they had no warrant to enter the clubhouse or the private apartments upstairs. Seven people were arrested but were later released without charges.

Kuby said the incident was similar to 1998 raid in which police allegedly disobeyed a search warrant restricting them to the ground floor of the Hells Angels clubhouse. Suits stemming from that raid were settled for $565,000.

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I wonder what Kuby's cut is.
He reminds me of Dershowitz: he's willing to represent anyone.
And no, I'm not inferring that that the Cops were in the right. No warrant...breaking down doors.....maybe this will teach them a lesson, and by the way, if you haven't been paying attention, the Hell's Angels are a multi-national enterprise with a lot of financial resources. A recent bust of a drug dealing and money counting apartment in Montreal that they were associated with, yielded millions in cash.

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