Utah cops raided an Airbnb with an assault rifle and cuffed a teen over ‘Lego merchandise,’ lawsuit says. Taxpayers will pay the bill

About seven months later, four of the arrested occupants — Sheldon Norcross, Tyler Shaw, Sierra Lauts and Steven Allen — filed a federal civil rights lawsuit against the city of American Fork and 13 of its police officers, according to a report by The Salt Lake Tribune. They alleged that their First and Fourth Amendment rights were violated during the encounter, according to local news outlet KSL.

The lawsuit included 19 counts that were supported by incriminating records taken from the officers’ equipment –– including bodycam and dashcam footage. The plaintiffs, in the opinion of their legal counsel, were repeatedly targeted by American Fork officers without legal justification.

During one roadside stop before the Airbnb arrests, one officer was caught on camera saying, “I was gonna scare him a little bit and let him go, is all I really was gonna do.”

While the lawsuit against American Fork is just beginning, much of the actual dispute that started everything has been settled. Because of the nature of the lawsuit, however, if the city loses or settles, the local taxpayers will be the ones who foot the bill.

The Lego collection that led to an armed raid and arrests

The story began with a prized Star Wars Lego collection that belonged to an elderly Oregon man, Ed Mansell, and his son Bryan. They had consigned the collection — which is allegedly worth $80,000, including an ultra-rare Cloud City set valued as high as $10,000 — at an Oregon store branch of Bricks & Minifigs.

The collection vanished between corporate transfers and ownership changes, leaving the family unpaid, according to Courthouse News.

In a bid to recover their collection, the family reached out to Ben Schneider, a Los Angeles YouTuber known as Reckless Ben, whose channel digs into disputes like this one. He offered to help and, together with some local helpers, traveled to American Fork to film a documentary, file lawsuits and serve court papers to an individual connected to the missing Legos.

Schneider, who has 2.6 million YouTube subscribers, posted a video called “I tracked down the thief who stole $200,000 of LEGO.”

But Schneider and his helpers ended up with four days of traffic stops, searches and, finally, the raid that landed them all in police questioning.

While none of the four individuals who filed the civil rights lawsuit were ever charged with any crime, Schneider himself faced criminal charges for stalking and residential picketing, according to a news report by ABC4 Utah.

Why taxpayers cover the bill in cases like this

Federal civil rights lawsuits, like the one in this story, run on a federal law known as Section 1983, which lets people sue government officials, including police officers, who violate their constitutional rights.

However, there is a Qualified Immunity that shields government officials from being sued individually for money damages in civil court — and if a judge grants an officer Qualified Immunity early in a lawsuit, the case against that specific officer is completely dismissed.

This may not be the case for the Utah officers in this story.

American Fork Police Chief Cameron Paul publicly admitted the department made errors regarding the warrant affidavit, saying “we didn’t do this perfectly” and “several issues weren’t handled well, or were handled outside of policy,” ABC4.com reported.

Because the chief admitted to procedural errors and officers were recorded admitting intent to scare citizens, the city faces significant legal exposure.