UPDATE: This story was up to date after Metro police confirmed that “J. Tomlinson” named within the lawsuit is Metro officer Joel Tomlinson.
LAS VEGAS (KLAS) — A police officer lied in an arrest report back to justify actions after June 11 ICE protests in downtown Las Vegas, in response to a lawsuit from a lady who was shot within the again with a pepper ball as she was complying with an officer’s orders.
Kathleen Cavalaro is known as because the plaintiff within the first lawsuit filed over actions that evening, when a whole bunch of protesters gathered close to the Lloyd D. George Federal Courthouse to protest immigration enforcement.
The lawsuit filed on Tuesday in Clark County District Courtroom alleges that the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Division violated protesters’ constitutional rights and fabricated proof to suit their very own narrative of what occurred the evening of the protests.
Metro officer Joel Tomlinson is known as within the lawsuit, together with the police division, the Metropolis of Las Vegas and unnamed officers below Tomlinson’s command. Tomlinson and the opposite officers are additionally accused of battery within the lawsuit for his or her actions in taking Cavalaro to the bottom throughout the course of creating an arrest.
The lawsuit describes a chaotic scene that performed out greater than an hour after police issued dispersal orders 4 blocks from the place Cavalaro was on the time of her arrest. “On June 11, 2025, while Ms. Kathleen Cavalaro was following police commands, an LVMPD officer shot her in the back with a pepper ball. When Ms. Cavalaro turned around and protested this action, several officers fired multiple pepper balls at her as she continued to retreat and obey their directives,” the lawsuit mentioned.
Cavalaro, a Las Vegas activist, had gone to the world intending to hitch a protest that had already been damaged up, however she did not know that. After arriving downtown close to Las Vegas Academy, she encountered a bunch of about 30 officers in riot gear at about 10 p.m. “She was stunned to see protesters leaving the area, an armored LVMPD vehicle that looked like a tank on the street, a large group of LVMPD officer in riot gear/gas masks, some with guns in hand, and the fog of gas canisters settling into the pavement.”
Kathleen Cavalaro is suing the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Division after her June 11 arrest in Downtown Las Vegas.
She took video on her telephone and shouted questions at officers however adopted their orders to go the opposite course, finally making her approach to the world of 4th Avenue and Carson Avenue. When she tried to move about 50 officers. That prompted a confrontation involving Tomlinson and different officers, in response to the lawsuit.
Occasions detailed within the lawsuit embrace her statements directed at police:
“Ms. Cavalaro tried to pass the group of officers on the sidewalk, but was blocked by LVMPD Officer J. Tomlinson and/or LVMPD Doe Officers, who said, ‘Go that way,’ pointing in the opposite direction. Ms. Cavalaro asked, ‘I can’t walk on a public street?’ The officer again said ‘Go that way,’ while raising and pointing a rifle directly at Ms. Cavalaro. Ms. Cavalaro reacted by saying, ‘You’re aiming a f***ing gun at me? You’re a fascist. You f***ing fascist. You should be (pause) f***ing disgrace.’ “
She turned to stroll within the different course, and that is when she was hit within the again with a pepper ball, in response to the lawsuit, which states that 750 pepper balls had been fired that evening in a protest involving 800 individuals.
As she turned to confront the officer for capturing her within the again, she was hit with “a barrage” of pepper balls and officers tackled her to the bottom, in response to the lawsuit.
The lawsuit alleges that the police report on her arrest was falsified, putting it at 501 South LasVegas Boulevard. The report additionally said the time was 9:30 p.m., in response to the lawsuit. Each particulars had been falsified in an try to put the occasion nearer to the time and place of the dispersal order, the lawsuit mentioned.
The lawsuit seeks a jury trial and punitive damages for “reckless disregard” of Cavalaro’s constitutional rights, along with damages in extra of $150,000, lawyer’s charges, courtroom prices and additional reduction “in the interests of justice.”
The lawsuit cites violations of the First, Fourth, and Fourteenth Amendments to the US Structure, and Article I, Sections 8, 9, 10, and 18 of the Nevada Structure. A complete of 10 violations are listed within the lawsuit, every with damages in extra of $15,000.
Metro police declined to touch upon pending litigation.
Two days after her arrest, Cavalaro, who’s a small enterprise proprietor who sells jewellery on-line, posted a video on TikTok recounting her expertise after the arrest. She mentioned zip ties used to bind her arms had been so tight the ache was insufferable. She described it as “the most pain I have ever experienced.”
“I have birthed two children and there is nothing that compares to that pain,” Cavalaro mentioned.
When she was launched, she by no means received her driver’s license again. Within the June 13 video, she mentioned she believes the officer who arrested her nonetheless has it, which she mentioned is “a little unnerving.”
By way of all of it, she mentioned she had no regrets for something she did that evening.
She is represented by Clear Counsel Legislation Group, a Henderson regulation agency.
