DanceSafe
Benefit
in
St.
Louis
Raided
By
Police,
Class
Action
Suit
Pending
7/27/01
On July 14, a multi-agency task force led by Washington County Sheriff's officers landed all over a Potosi, Missouri, rave designed to benefit the harm reduction organization DanceSafe (http://www.dancesafe.org) and Big Brothers and Big Sisters of America. Police detained about 150 people for several hours while they searched the grounds, tents, parked cars and everyone present, including young children. While affidavits filed for a search warrant claimed a rampant drug scene was afoot, law enforcement officials were only able to come up with one arrest for an unidentified pill, two minor marijuana possession arrests, and one arrest of a teenage girl for outstanding traffic tickets. But although police could not find evidence of a massive drug scene, they may well have found themselves on the receiving end of a class action lawsuit. "We've been in close contact with the ACLU of Eastern Missouri, and we will file a class action suit," St. Louis DanceSafe head Arthur Cook told DRCNet. "They are still reviewing the case, and they tell me there are so many problems with this raid that they hardly know where to begin." A staffer at the ACLU office in St. Louis confirmed to DRCNet that the Eastern Missouri ACLU plans to file suit, adding "we're getting all kinds of media calls about this." "First came the helicopters," Cook told DRCNet. "Then the cops roared up with 20 or 30 police cars, a police van, a prison bus, two ambulances, two fire trucks and some drug-sniffing dogs. They made everyone sit in a circle while they ransacked the place, before searching everybody and then eventually telling people they were free to leave." But police were not able to prevent Cook from using his cell phone to notify the ACLU and local media as the bust went down, nor were they able to find the drug haul they seemed to expect. "People heard different cops yelling things like 'we've got to find something' as the search yielded few results," Cook said. "They didn't find much, but they did manage to pepper spray two friendly puppies who got too close to their drug dogs." "I swear there were drugs there the night before," Sheriff Yount told the Post-Dispatch. "They held people against their will and searched them and their property without their consent," said Cook. "And they trashed peoples' tents, cars and personal property. They even took one kid's prized photo album as 'evidence.' This was a fraudulent search warrant filled with lies and rumors," he added. "It said the property owner had filed a complaint against the event, and that is just not so." For Cook, the police persecution will only strengthen the resolve of the local rave scene to protect itself. "The rave scene is strong here, numbering in the thousands of people, and we have mobilized over this," he said. "You can't wage war on a whole subculture." Cook told DRCNet local scenesters are setting up a new web site, raverdefense.org ("but don't go there yet, we're still dealing with the domain name issues.") In the meantime, http://www.stlouisraver.com is carrying updates on the situation and appeals to people in attendance to provide statements and other evidence to the ACLU. As law enforcement authorities across the land wage a cultural war on the rave scene, it is up to ravers and their allies to hold them to account. Sheriff Blount and the county that employs him may find out about the limits of legality the hard way.
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