Federal judge ruled CAID raid arrests which detained over 100 people unconstitional.
Detroit - It was Funk Night at the Contemporary Art Institute of Detroit, May 31, 2008. Local music boomed as Darlene Hellenberg and her friends danced among the artworks, living the culture of Detroit. For them it was a celebration of a good friend’s birthday, and to make the night even better the DJ was also a friend. The monthly Funk Night parties attracted a good crowd, and there were plenty of people to dance the night away with.
Until someone ran through the room, shouting that something was happening. And before she had time to think, Hellenberg found herself at the end of a gun. Men in all black with a bandanas across their faces ordered everyone to the ground. All around her people dropped, lying on the gallery floor while the people with guns screamed at them. Those who did not comply, or dared to ask questions, were kicked to the ground.
She had no idea what was going on, until uniformed police officers came in and began separating them – males in one room, females in another. Court documents say they were searched, and their purses and other property taken away. “I didn’t know what to expect so I didn’t have any emotional reaction. I just did what they said,” Hellenberg said.
The police took Hellenberg’s car keys and demanded to know where she had parked her vehicle. For over a couple of hours she and her friends sat in the room with the other women, not knowing what was going on. Finally they told her of her crime – loitering.
Soon after the event, the ACLU of Michigan (American Civil Liberties Union) got involved and police dropped the loitering charges against 130 people, yet they held the patrons’ cars in impound, telling them it would be $900 to get them back, plus towing and storage. The raid and the impounding of vehicles was tied to a law against those found loitering in the area of illegal activity, yet no drugs, weapons or illegal activity was found during the raid. Even after charges were dropped, the City felt they could charge for the release of the vehicles, essentially holding innocent people’s cars for ransom.
According to an ACLU press release, the organization then had to file a lawsuit against the City of Detroit to order the release of the vehicles and to fight the attached fines and fees. They represented nine patrons and four of their parents whose cars were confiscated during the raid. Hellenberg was among the plaintiffs.
http://ferndale115.com/nuevo/2012/12/09/four-years-later-justice-for-unconstitutional-raid-victims/
http://www.aclumich.org/issues/caid-raid/2012-12/1783
http://deepcutzmusic.blogspot.com/2008/06/caid-story-3-days-after.html
Ian Mobley v. Detroit:
http://www.aclumich.org/sites/default/files/CAIDRuling.pdf