After successfully suing the City of Milwaukee in 2004 when Outlaws Motorcycle Club members were ejected from Summerfest for wearing insignias and after playing a hand in the departure of former county of Milwaukee detective Chris Mason because of harassment, club members are again suing the City of Milwaukee.
Most recently on September 25, 2006, 19 police officers of the Milwaukee Police Department ordered three club members out of their clubhouse at gunpoint. The officers had no warrant, and ten of the officers had shotguns. The officers proceeded to do a search of the entire clubhouse and two private residences at the clubhouse without consent.
The officers claimed that an officer had seen a person on the roof with a shotgun prior to the warrantless search from a block away. No club member had a shotgun or any weapon when club members had been on the roof earlier that day checking for roof leaks. No arrests were made and nothing was seized, but numerous police officers took photos of the interior of the clubhouse, on their cell phones, as "trophies". Despite the number of officers involved and show of force by the Milwaukee Police Department, no written reports were generated regarding this incident.
There is a pattern of deliberate indifference by the City of Milwaukee and elected officials when it comes to police officers assaulting and terrorizing citizens. Recent cases of Frank Jude who was beaten by off duty Milwaukee Police Department officers, Curtis Harris (represented by Hupy and Abraham) who was rendered a quadriplegic by a Milwaukee Police Department officer when he was thrown headfirst into a wall (on surveillance cameras at District 3 station) and the Outlaws clubhouse being raided without a warrant or probable cause all show this same pattern of deliberate indifference.
The officers involved in the Outlaws clubhouse raid have received no discipline nor been charged with any crime as a result. The police department dropped its “investigation” after accomplishing nothing so club members filed suit in Federal Court. Taxpayers pay for all money awards against the city. Preventative measures might be in order.