Las Vegas police illegally fired a SWAT team leader who stood up for another officer who posted an online comment about the armed standoff at the Bundy Ranch in 2014, the veteran officer claims in Federal Court.
Michael Quick is a 23-year veteran of Las Vegas Metropolitan Police, most recently as a SWAT team leader and training section sergeant, he says in his June 30 lawsuit against Clark County, the Metro Police and a police lieutenant.
The lawsuit stems from the standoff that ensued after Bureau of Land Management officers tried to execute federal warrants to seize cattle owned by Bunkerville rancher Cliven Bundy on April 9, 2014.
Three days later, the BLM sought help from Las Vegas Metro police, when armed militia who supported Bundy stopped the BLM from rounding up cattle.
During the standoff, a Bundy supporter posted a photo of a Bundy-supporting sniper team on a freeway overpass: one man with a scoped rifle and another one acting as a spotter. The online caption stated: "The 2nd American Revolution Almost Started Today."
A SWAT officer who had not been sent to the standoff made a comment on the blog thread: "I just wish you could see how big that guy prone with the rifles head was in the scope of the LE Snipers .308, don't worry, he wouldn't have felt a thing!!"
Quick says the bloggers were able to identify the commenter, nonparty Russell Laws, as a police officer, and mentioned it on subsequent posts on the blog thread. Quick, a police sergeant, was Laws' supervisor...
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