Lawsuit says Las Vegas police violated civil rights of ‘countless’ DUI suspects

Attorneys for a Clark County woman allege Las Vegas police have carried out “countless such violations” of the civil rights of Nevadans by taking suspects to Arizona “as an institutionalized pattern and practice.”

Las Vegas lawyers for plaintiff Shannon McMillen alleged that the Las Vegas and Bullhead City police departments violated McMillen’s civil rights and did not follow interstate extradition compacts when they took her to a Bullhead City medical center for a nonconsensual blood draw after a DUI arrest in Laughlin in 2022, according to the lawsuit.

Prior to obtaining the blood draw, a Bullhead City police officer submitted and received a warrant from a Superior Court judge in Maricopa County, Arizona, for the nonconsensual blood draw to be executed in Bullhead City, which is in Mojave County, the lawsuit states.

“This was done when McMillen was a Nevada resident who was detained under probable cause of driving under the influence on Nevada roads, not Arizona,” the lawyers alleged in the filing. “McMillen did not purposefully avail herself of Arizona jurisdiction, laws or courts.”

‘Complex law enforcement issues’

Such situations are complicated, Emily Fromelt, a public information officer for Bullhead City police, stated in a written response.

“Interstate border communities are presented with complex law enforcement issues,” Fromelt wrote. “In this matter, the Bullhead City Police Department acted solely in a support role to the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department. The Police Department only takes actions which it believes to be allowed or required by the law.

“The merits of the complaint will be addressed through the legal briefing that will be part of the lawsuit and [the department] makes no further comments as to specific issues of the case at this time,” she wrote in the response.

Asked about the case Tuesday, Sgt. Alejandra Zambrano, a spokeswoman for the Las Vegas police, said the agency does not comment on pending litigation.

The legal action, filed Feb. 29 in U.S. District Court in Las Vegas, argues that McMillen is owed monetary damages in excess of $75,000 from both police departments and the city of Bullhead City for violating her civil rights under 42 U.S.C. 1983 and for negligence, intentional infliction of emotional distress and false imprisonment, according to court documents.

McMillen’s attorneys claim that on March 9, 2022, McMillen was driving in Laughlin in Clark County when Las Vegas police Officer Charles Smith, also a defendant in the lawsuit, stopped her vehicle on suspicion of driving under the influence and placed her in his patrol car.

After she declined his request to voluntarily submit to the taking of a sample of her blood to test alcohol use, Smith and other unnamed Las Vegas officers “then renditioned McMillen out of the State of Nevada and into the State of Arizona,” the lawsuit states.

“McMillen was not a probable cause suspect of a crime in Arizona,” they wrote. “McMillen did not flee to Arizona under her own volition, but was taken there in custody by LVMPD.”

Las Vegas police also “did not follow any applicable interstate compacts for extradition of a criminal suspect,” according to the lawsuit.

Also named as a defendant was Eddie Espinoza, a Bullhead City police officer whom the lawsuit claims submitted the nonconsensual blood draw warrant to the judge in Maricopa County.

‘Countless such violations’

The Las Vegas police department “illegally used Bullhead City police and Maricopa County judicial officers to use Arizona law [to] seize McMillen’s blood, when McMillen was operating her vehicle only within the legal boundaries of Nevada,” the lawsuit states.

Both police departments “engaged in a conspiracy to unlawfully remove McMillen from the state of Nevada and draw McMillen’s blood against her will,” the lawsuit claims.

While Las Vegas and Bullhead City police and Bullhead City have a private interlocal agreement for mutual aid in law enforcement, it does not give judges in Bullhead City or Maricopa County jurisdiction to issue search warrants against Nevada residents acting solely in Nevada, the lawsuit claims.

The lawyers, Ryan Alexander and Richard Englemann of Las Vegas, also allege that Las Vegas police have “a closely guarded “Laughlin Manual” that in pertinent part instructs LVMPD officers to violate the constitutional rights of Nevada residents suspected of DUI by renditioning them to Arizona for ‘nonconsensual’ blood draws,” according the lawsuit.

Las Vegas police have carried out “countless such violations” of the civil rights of Nevadans by taking suspects to Arizona “as an institutionalized pattern and practice,” the lawyers allege.

The Clark County district attorney’s office later used the blood draw as evidence to prosecute McMillen in Laughlin Justice Court, according to the lawsuit.

Contact Jeff Burbank at jburbank@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0382. Follow him @JeffBurbank2 on X.