A lawsuit filed on behalf of 30 strippers at two local nightspots was filed Wednesday seeking damages from the city of San Diego and the police chief for allegedly violating the strippers’ rights during licensing inspections.
The strippers were employed at Cheetahs Gentlemen’s Club and Club Expose when members of the police department’s vice squad detained them and forced them to pose for pictures during “raids” in 2013 and 2014, according to the lawsuit filed in Superior Court.
The strippers were “nearly nude” when their pictures were taken while officers made “arrogant and demeaning remarks” and intimidated the strippers to keep them from leaving, the lawsuit alleges.
Attorney Dan Gilleon, whose firm filed the suit, said the strippers’ rights to avoid unreasonable search and seizure were violated by the vice squad officers.
The lawsuit seeks unspecified damages for “emotional distress and pain.” The damages should be sufficient to “punish and to make an example” of the city and Police Chief Shelley Zimmerman and to deter others “from engaging in similar conduct.”
