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ACLU Weighs In On Ruttenberg’s Case
By Greg L | 14 June 2007 | Rack & Roll Scandal | No Comments
The American Civil Liberties Union has filed a amicus brief in support of Dave Ruttenberg’s case against the City of Manassas Park. Often, I tend to disagree with some of the things the ACLU does, but in this instance they certainly seem to be making a strong argument in support of what should be clear constitutional concerns regarding the treatment Ruttenberg has been given by the city. It’s a good read on the larger issues that are involved in this case.
The brief provides a good overview of the constitutional concerns, which should encourage readers to continue on through the arguments:
Plaintiff David Ruttenberg is the general manager of the Rack ‘N’ Roll Billiard Club (“RNR”) in Manassas Park, Virginia. In the fall of 2001, Ruttenberg heard from an RNR waitress that defendant L, a detective in the Manassas Park Police Department, had said that Ruttenberg was under investigation for cocaine use and distribution. When Ruttenberg called Lugo to the club to confront him with this information, Lugo took the waitress outside, reduced her to tears with threats, and demanded that she retract her statement to Ruttenberg.
Ruttenberg called Lugo’s superior officer to complain about Lugo’s threats and intimidation. In retaliation for Ruttenberg’s complaint, Lugo engaged in a course of conduct spanning several years that was designed to drive RNR out of business, and ultimately led to the loss of RNR’s ABC license and conditional use permit. This course of conduct included spreading false information about RNR, fabricating evidence, and engineering drug transactions at the club.
These activities culminated in a raid on RNR in June 2004. Lugo, along with other members of the Narcotics Task Force of Manassas Park, attempted to obtain a warrant to search RNR, but failed to establish probable cause. Instead, the defendants recruited agents of the Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control (ABC) to participate in the search, in order to disguise their search for law enforcement purposes as an administrative inspection. On June 2, 2004, the Narcotics Task Force, led by Lugo, raided RNR with more than 50 police and law enforcement personnel, including heavily armed SWAT team members. Only six or seven of these officers were ABC agents. When Ruttenberg demanded a search warrant, he was told that a warrant was not required because it was an ABC inspection.
During the raid, officers searched David Ruttenberg’s private office, even though it was not covered by RNR’s ABC license and therefore not subject to administrative search. Two bottles of vodka were seized from the office, although they did not constitute an ABC violation.
Read the brief here.
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