- Oct 17, 2011
- 48,752
- 51,143
- Country
- United States
- Faith
- Atheist
- Marital Status
- Legal Union (Other)
The lawsuit, filed Thursday in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Ohio, accuses the white supremacist organization Blood Tribe, its leaders Christopher Pohlhaus and Drake Berentz, and seven unnamed men of conspiring to interfere with the civil rights of Springfield Mayor Rob Rue, Assistant Mayor David Estrop, two city commissioners and four residents.
The group is seeking a judicial order to prevent Blood Tribe and its members from making further threats, as well as punitive damages. Assisted by the Anti-Defamation League and attorneys with experience in litigating against white supremacists, the plaintiffs requested a jury trial.
[O]n Aug. 10, Blood Tribe appeared at Springfield’s Jazz & Blues festival. At least a dozen masked men in red-and-black uniforms waved swastika flags, yelled racial slurs and pointed guns at families, according to the lawsuit.
In the aftermath, residents gathered to speak in defense of Haitian immigrants at city commission meetings. That angered Blood Tribe, which labeled them “enemy combatants” and “traitors,” according to the lawsuit. The complaint accuses Blood Tribe of targeting some of these residents and city officials by issuing at least 33 bomb threats, sending hate mail, posting personal information, and creating fake dating profiles soliciting men to show up at victims’ homes seeking drugs and sex.
The lawsuit alleges [Blood Tribe leader] Pohlhaus “gleefully took credit” when xenophobic conspiracy theories about the town’s Haitian community reached a national level last year. Pohlhaus wrote on social media that Blood Tribe had “pushed Springfield into the public consciousness,” according to court documents.
“Other Blood Tribe members agreed,” the lawsuit said, “adding that ‘this is what real power looks like.’”
The group is seeking a judicial order to prevent Blood Tribe and its members from making further threats, as well as punitive damages. Assisted by the Anti-Defamation League and attorneys with experience in litigating against white supremacists, the plaintiffs requested a jury trial.
[O]n Aug. 10, Blood Tribe appeared at Springfield’s Jazz & Blues festival. At least a dozen masked men in red-and-black uniforms waved swastika flags, yelled racial slurs and pointed guns at families, according to the lawsuit.
In the aftermath, residents gathered to speak in defense of Haitian immigrants at city commission meetings. That angered Blood Tribe, which labeled them “enemy combatants” and “traitors,” according to the lawsuit. The complaint accuses Blood Tribe of targeting some of these residents and city officials by issuing at least 33 bomb threats, sending hate mail, posting personal information, and creating fake dating profiles soliciting men to show up at victims’ homes seeking drugs and sex.
The lawsuit alleges [Blood Tribe leader] Pohlhaus “gleefully took credit” when xenophobic conspiracy theories about the town’s Haitian community reached a national level last year. Pohlhaus wrote on social media that Blood Tribe had “pushed Springfield into the public consciousness,” according to court documents.
“Other Blood Tribe members agreed,” the lawsuit said, “adding that ‘this is what real power looks like.’”
