$300K Settlement with Biker Club Member in Las Vegas Traffic Stop Dispute
Las Vegas police have agreed to a $300,000 settlement with the estate of a California man who said he was illegally questioned by officers during a traffic stop of a van carrying members of a motorcycle club.
James Iiams, a passenger in the van that was stopped in 2017, filed a lawsuit the following year accusing the police of violating the passengers’ constitutional rights by demanding their identification without probable cause.
Iiams died in June following a battle with colon cancer, but a lawyer for his estate told the Las Vegas Review-Journal he would’ve been satisfied with the settlement.
“The main part of the settlement isn’t the money,” Stephen Stubbs said Monday after the Metropolitan Police Committee of Fiscal Affairs approved the settlement.
More important, he said, was that a federal judge also approved negotiated changes in the department’s policy and training related to the questioning of a passenger during a traffic stop.
The van with a dozen passengers was headed to a charity event for a “fallen motorcycle rider” before police stopped them for driving without headlights. After an officer demanded identification, Iiams summoned Stubbs, who was at the nearby event.
Stubbs said police violated Iiams’ rights by asking him to identify his club affiliation.
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