Tuesday, April 18, 2017

Hell's Angels score 800k from botched police raid


Officers raiding the Hell's Angels clubhouse in 1997
San Jose has agreed to pay nearly $800,000 to the Hell's Angels motorcycle club to settle claims that police needlessly killed three dogs during raids on club members' homes. About 90 officers were involved in the raids on the club's San Jose HQ and nine members' homes after a murder at a strip club in 1997.
Steve Tausan, a bouncer and Hell's Angels member, was later acquitted of murder and none of the bikers whose homes were targeted was ever charged.

The city was forced to settle because an appeal court ruled that shooting the dogs violated US constitution's Fourth Amendment that protects against unreasonable search-and-seizure.