Utah police sued over armed raid tied to stolen Lego investigation

Four people assisting a YouTube journalist investigating a disputed $200,000 Lego collection sued Utah police over days of harassment that culminated in an armed Airbnb raid.(CN) — An investigation into a valuable Lego collection in Utah escalated Wednesday with a federal lawsuit accusing more than a dozen American Fork police officers of harassing four people trying to serve court papers in March.The lawsuit arises from an investigation by YouTube journalist Benjamin Schneider, who was looking into claims that a collectible reseller held onto a family’s consigned collection of Legos valued at $200,000 without paying. The four plaintiffs were helping Schneider pursue civil action against Joshua Johnson, who they say closed his toy store rather than repay the family.“Those are lawful, constitutionally protected activities, and yet they had their constitutional rights repeatedly violated," attorney Solomon Radner said in a press conference Wednesday. “They were detained, they were handcuffed, they were searched, they were arrested, they were interrogated and ultimately they were not charged with any crimes for one very simple reason: They did not commit any crimes.”The plaintiffs, three Utah residents and one Illinois resident, bring 19 civil rights claims against the city of American Fork and 13 of its police officers and detectives, including false arrest, unreasonable seizure of property, free speech violations and excessive force.The plaintiffs say that after several days of harassment, things escalated when police executed a search warrant on their Airbnb rental and detained every occupant, including a minor, at gunpoint.“This is certainly the most dangerous, the most egregious and the most outrageous thing that took place during this entire episode,” Radner said. “A cadre of police officers with guns drawn, including an assault rifle, decided to do a no-knock warrant of the Airbnb where these folks were staying, supposedly looking for stolen Legos.”The plaintiffs claim officers fabricated or recklessly embellished a warrant affidavit to execute the raid. They say the officers did not search the Airbnb rental for Lego merchandise, but instead detained everyone, searched them, took some of their property and transported them to the police station.“This is how people can end up getting killed,” Radner said. “This is not how a search warrant is supposed to go down, especially if you’re dealing with people whose only crime, supposedly, is stolen Legos.”The plaintiffs say that the harassment began on March 8 when Officer Cole Richardson stopped plaintiff Tyler Shaw’s vehicle for running a stop sign in town.“Tyler Shaw did not run a stop sign,” Radner said. “The chief of police has since admitted Tyler Shaw did not run that stop sign. The real purpose of that stop is unknown at this point but something we hope to uncover in the discovery process.”Shaw was again stopped by police the next night and held for about two hours, during which a defendant, identified as Officer Steven Hawkins, administered a sobriety test and searched his car for drugs.“I was gonna scare him a little bit and let him go,” Hawkins was recorded saying before administering the tests.Shaw registered .000 on a breathalyzer test, but officers called a drug detection dog anyway, which they said alerted them to potential drugs in his car.Radner described the police conduct as completely baseless and unlawful.Plaintiff Sierra Lauts says that she was also detained by two defendants, Officer Luke Sumbot and Officer Tayler Somerville, while attempting to lawfully serve court papers to Johnson on a public street near his residence. Police confirmed the court papers were authentic and that service was still required.Despite this, Lauts was trespassed from the residence, though she remained in her car and never entered the property, the plaintiffs claim. They add that Johnson called 911 on Lauts and said he might shoot someone.“We are not antipolice,” Radner said during the press conference. “However, we are very antipolice corruption and we are propolice transparency, and when you have a department like this, who is engaging in four days of intimidation, of constitutional violations, of unlawful detainment, unlawful arrests, and unlawful guns-drawn raids of people’s homes, something has to be done.”The plaintiffs say they were able to get the Legos back to their owner, an Oregon man identified as Bryan, who consigned hundreds of collectible Legos sets and more than 1,000 miniatures to Bricks & Minifigs, a Utah collectible reseller franchise.American Fork Police Chief Cameron Paul initially defended the officers’ actions in a YouTube statement, but the plaintiffs say that he admitted to wrongdoing, especially in regard to the search warrant and raid, in recorded meetings.American Fork is a city of about 40,000 people, about 30 miles south of Salt Lake City.City officials did not respond to requests for comment.Subscribe to our free newslettersOur weekly newsletter Closing Arguments offers the latest about ongoing trials, major litigation and rulings in courthouses around the U.S. and the world, while the monthly Under the Lights dishes the legal dirt from Hollywood, sports, Big Tech and the arts.Additional Reads