[April 20, 2009] Bar Owner, Employees Sue Officers: 3 Detained for Filming Undercover Agents Tweet Apr 20, 2009 (Albuquerque Journal - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) -- A bar owner and two employees who were detained, handcuffed and thrown in jail for filming state alcohol enforcement agents outside the Distillery in Downtown Albuquerque have filed a federal lawsuit against the officers. Jacob Traub, David Garcia and Lance Gomez were charged with a felony count of obstructing the administration of the Liquor Control Act, but the Bernalillo County District Attorney's Office never pursued charges stemming from the May 2006 incident. Department of Public Safety Spokesman Peter Olson would not comment on the suit but said agents Cameron Fisher and Jerry Belyeu frequently work undercover and were concerned their identity would be made public. "Part of their job is to observe illegal behavior, and if they are known they can't do their job," Olson said. Plaintiffs' attorney Paul Kennedy said the agents' concerns about being undercover were ridiculous and that they have appeared on television before while conducting special operations. "They have no problem appearing on television when they want to promote themselves," Kennedy said. "It is not like these guys do anything dangerous. They enforce alcohol regulations. Give me a break." According to the lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court earlier this month Traub had hired Garcia, a professional videographer, to tape police near his establishment -- which he describes as a "restaurant, tavern and entertainment venue." Traub also owns Knockouts, a Downtown topless bar. Kennedy said Traub has had problems with Special Investigations Division agents stopping his customers as they walk out of his bar. That's why he hired Garcia to record them. According to state officials, the tavern has been cited seven times since 2006, mostly for serving intoxicated patrons. "No one wants to go to a bar if they know they are going to get harassed the moment they walk out," Kennedy said. On May 20, 2006, Albuquerque police and DPS agents were checking identification and giving breath alcohol tests to people they suspected were underage on a Central Avenue sidewalk when Garcia started taping them. An unidentified DPS agent approached Ga rcia a nd ordered him to stop taping. Garcia refused, said he was hired to videotape police harassing bar patrons and continued to videotape the agents. Fisher and Belyeu arrested him and confiscated his video equipment. Gomez, who was the manager of Traub's bar, saw Garcia being arrested and started taping it. Another unidentified agent ordered Gomez to stop taping. When he refused, he, too, was handcuffed and arrested. Traub was arrested when he then started videotaping police arresting the other two. According to court records, the agents acknowledged they arrested the three men because they were videotaping them. "(Gomez) did obstruct the liquor control act by videotaping undercover officer ... after being warned several times not to videotape their faces," Fisher wrote in Gomez's criminal complaint. "Gomez said he would continue to video tape undercover officers and did not care about their safety." The cases against the three photographers were never sent to a grand jury, and less than a month later, District Court Judge Neil Candelaria ordered DPS to return the confiscated equipment. In the lawsuit, the men claim their Fourth and Fourteenth Amendment rights -- which concern unlawful search and seizure and due process -- were violated. "This was blatantly egregious," Kennedy said. "It was just a total misuse of the law to prevent these guys from keeping track of what was going on out there. "All they were trying to do was record what (these agents) were doing to their customers, and there is no law against that." Olson said an internal investigation was conducted, but he refused to say whether any disciplinary action was taken against the agents. To see more of the Albuquerque Journal, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.abqjournal.com. Copyright (c) 2009, Albuquerque Journal, N.M. Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services. For reprints, email [email protected], call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA. [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]