“I roll down my window and I say, you know, just out of common courtesy—I want to let you know that I have firearms in the car,” Vem Miller told News 3 in a Monday interview. “Usually the police thank you, and they love that you respect them enough to actually give them that common courtesy, right?”
A Nevada man who was arrested outside of a Donald Trump rally in California has filed a lawsuit accusing the Riverside Sheriff’s Office of misrepresenting the incident.
According to KSNV, the lawsuit was filed Tuesday in U.S. District Court for Nevada. The complaint was filed on behalf of Las Vegas resident Vem Miller and names defendants include Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco, the sheriff’s department, and the county government.
Miller, writes KSNV, was arrested at a checkpoint outside of Trump’s Coachella Valley on Saturday. In its arrest reports, the sheriff’s office alleged that Miller “was found to be illegally in possession of a shotgun, a loaded handgun, and a high-capacity magazine.”
Bianco also said at a press conference that, at the time of the arrest, Miller had multiple forms of identification as well as an unlicensed vehicle. The sheriff then suggested that he and his “deputies … prevented [a] third assassination attempt” on former President Donald Trump.
However, Miller has since been released on bond—and the U.S. Secret Service maintains that the Nevada man never posed a threat to Trump’s life or well-being. Miller, who claims to be both an ardent Trump supporter and an independent journalist, has also denied any plan to harm the former president.
“I roll down my window and I say, you know, just out of common courtesy—I want to let you know that I have firearms in the car,” Miller told News 3 in a Monday interview. “Usually the police thank you, and they love that you respect them enough to actually give them that common courtesy, right?”
“In this this instance, no, he asked me to pull over,” Miller said.
Attorneys for Miller say that their client had been provided with “expedited special entry passes” directly from Trump’s re-election campaign. However, after arriving at the rally site, Miller said that a deputy ordered him out of the vehicle, handcuffed him, and searched all of the compartments in his car.
The deputy, and Riverside County, thereby allegedly “engaged in deliberate and wrongful conduct and compromised police protocol violating Miller’s constitutional rights for the purpose of promoting and engaging in a meritless and gratuitous sensational story.”
Bianco, the lawsuit says, effectively lied about preventing an assassination attempt.
“Instead of apologizing to Miller for the false accusations made against him, Defendant Bianco compounded [Defendants’] misconduct [and has] perpetuated a boisterous and delusional narrative that has caused irreparable harm to miller’s character and reputation,” the lawsuit alleges.
“We’re looking at a sheriff that wants to be governor, he’s trying to use this situation to basically boost his name,” Miller told The Hill. “He has political aspirations. I know that for a fact.”
“Everybody knows that I’ve been very involved within the Republican Party in Nevada, and I helped get votes for the former president for his primary campaign,” Miller said.
Sources
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Las Vegas man arrested outside Trump rally files lawsuit against California sheriff
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