On March 6 the San Diego Police raided a Cheetah’s strip club and closed it down for two hours, during which time all 25 dancers working that night were lined up against the wall and photographed. The 10 police officers, who were carrying guns and wore bullet-proof vests, spent two hours in the dancers’ dressing room for the purpose of checking to see if all the dancers had proper work ID. They did. The club manager said the dancers rights were violated as no actual crime was being investigated.
San Diego police Lt. Kevin Mayer released the following statement:
“One of the many responsibilities of the San Diego Police Department’s Vice Unit is to conduct random inspections of strip clubs to ensure dancers are complying with the law and that they have an entertainers permit…”
The dancers have since filed suit against the SD Police Department, claiming misconduct on the part of the cops, being held against their will, and loss of revenue, asking for $10,000 for each dancer who was held involuntarily. According to the suit, the cops made “arrogant and demeaning comments” as they took the photos, and posed them so they could “expose body parts.”
One dancer was quoted by Fox5News:
“They were taking pictures of me half naked through my sheer top. They can clearly see everything because the flash is going. I felt very violated and my rights were taken away. They took pictures of us – not our faces – our whole bodies.”
A second San Diego area strip club has since filed a similar suit against the cops.
