Seriously.

In Albuqerque, New Mexico:

A weekend raid by law enforcement officers of the gay Pride Gym in Albuquerque, N.M., that left patrons “bullied, terrorized and humiliated” has prompted the ACLU and other groups to inquire into possible civil rights violations there.

[...]

“There were about 35 of us there, and most were older men, some in their 70s, eating tacos and chatting,” Ronald said. “Most of us were fully dressed, because it’s a legitimate gym with a sauna, but not a bathhouse.”

“Suddenly, a SWAT team carrying semi-automatic weapons, plastic shields and late gloves burst through the door and told us to get on the ground. They kept saying, ‘We’re not here for you,’ but still they handcuffed us and kept us on the ground until they could run background checks on all of us. This took about an hour.”

At least one elderly man suffered a panic attack and was taken away by paramedics, Ronald said. A few of the patrons were in the sauna when the raid occurred, and, when their towels fell, they were forced to lie on the floor naked, he said.

Ronald claimed that police officers led one man into a separate room and took pictures of him.

“The guy was wearing a leather harness and a jockstrap. A female officer with a digital camera took him into a room; we saw about 15 or 20 flashes coming from there and heard lots of laughter. They (the officers) were having a good old time. It was like the gay Abu Ghraib.”

A police spokesman said the SWAT raid was due to complaints that the club was dispensing alcohol without a license, and was part of the state’s anti-drunk driving campaign.

Jesus. Take your pick of outrages on this one.

This entry was posted on Monday, July 10th, 2006 at 8:41 am by Radley Balko and is filed under Alcohol, Police Militarization. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.