A motorcycle club is suing the Department of Public Safety and the Coconino County Sheriff’s office for civil rights violations.
The Sons of Hell club claim officers rousted them at gunpoint at a northern Arizona campsite last year where a man had just shot his wife and two others before taking his own life.
The club says its members weren’t involved, and were targeted by law enforcement who wanted to collect information on them for a criminal street gang database.
The club was camped in an area away from the shooting, and the suit alleges a drunken camper pointed to the motorcycle club as possibly being involved. The suit says officers quickly discounted the story but went ahead and entered their camp, awakening its members, their wives, girlfriends and family members at gunpoint.
They were held for three hours even through officers knew they weren't involved, according to the lawsuit.
-- With the Associated Press