An arrest of a woman filming in downtown Las Vegas that led to internet infamy for the Metropolitan Police Department has resulted in a six-figure settlement against the department.
In a video, police officers could be seen arresting Karlin Martinez and Cesar Corrales in downtown Las Vegas after Corrales taunted passing Metro officers and cursed at them.
A group of officers had initially walked past the two made the arrests following the comment. The arrests last June came in the aftermath of immigration protests downtown, which were met with a heavy police presence.
The video garnered more than 3.4 million views on X alone. Legal experts called the arrests unconstitutional and retaliatory.
Now, Martinez is receiving a $325,000 settlement.
At a July 30 meeting of Metro’s fiscal affairs committee, the body approved the payment without discussion. A Metro spokesperson indicated that the money is coming from the department’s self-funded insurance pool.
“Metro doesn’t pay that kind of money when they are blameless,” said Martinez’s attorney Stephen Stubbs, adding, “The hope with all of these cases is that Metro will look at what happens, look at people’s constitutional rights and make changes so that they can lawfully enforce the laws while still supporting and protecting protesters’ constitutional rights.”
Both sides agreed in an Aug. 12 filing to dismiss the lawsuit Martinez filed against Metro, Sgt. Frederick Oliveri and Officer Hunter Whiteford.
Attorney Dan McNutt, who represented the officers and the department, did not comment when asked at court about the case. Metro provided information about the settlement, but no substantive comment.
Martinez’s lawsuit alleged that Oliveri ordered the arrests of Martinez and Corrales, who has a history of engaging in confrontations with police and documenting them for his YouTube channel. In this incident, Corrales calls out to a passing group of Metro officers, “Honor your oath, b——,” which led to his and Martinez’ arrest.
Corrales does not appear to have sued over his arrest.
Martinez was “violently tackled” and Oliveri yelled at Martinez, who pleaded that she was “not resisting,” her complaint said. The filing also asserted that Martinez has serious heart problems and told police she was going to have a heart attack.
“Sergeant Oliveri arrested Ms. Martinez because she was standing next to a person who ‘ran his mouth’ and Sergeant Oliveri perceived an association between the two,” the lawsuit read. “Sergeant Oliveri additionally yelled to Ms. Martinez, ‘You enjoy your night? Yeah? You should have shut your mouth, too. You ain’t dealing with no f——— p——.’ ”
Whiteford’s name appeared on the arrest reports for Martinez and Corrales, and he claimed that both refused to leave the area after a dispersal order.
He also claimed they provoked a breach of peace, which Stubbs previously said was “hilarious” because it essentially alleged that “she somehow did something to provoke them to attack her.”
Stubbs said Martinez did not hear dispersal orders, but learned of the order from other protesters and moved away from the area where it was delivered.
Attorneys for Metro said in court papers that what happened to Martinez was an “isolated incident,” that she had “commercialized and publicized her arrest” and that she knew she had to disperse after standing near the site where dispersal orders were given and watching crowds of other protesters leave.
There was probable cause for her arrest for violating the dispersal order, they argued.
Sheriff Kevin McMahill said in a previous interview that some internal affairs investigations were “sustained” against officers from the June protester cases, including the incident with Martinez and Corrales.
The sheriff confirmed that Oliveri “was under investigation,” but would not say against whom the investigation was sustained or whether there was any punishment as a result.
At the July 30 fiscal affairs committee meeting, the committee also approved a $400,000 settlement for Kelly Patterson, another Stubbs client.
Patterson’s suit alleged that he was arrested in 2021 after recording a police encounter and providing an officer with his name and birth date, but not additional identifying information.
The arrest of Patterson, a cyclist, came in the wake of police trying to cite a large group of cyclists disobeying traffic laws downtown.
Metro and attorney Craig Anderson, who represented the department and arresting Officer Salim Salazar in the Patterson case, did not comment on that settlement.
“It is abundantly clear that Ms. Martinez did nothing wrong, was exercising her First Amendment rights, both to protest and to film police officers performing their official duties in public,” said Stubbs. “The video is clear that the sergeant and the officers targeted her illegally, arrested her, threw her to the ground in violation of her First Amendment rights.”
Contact Noble Brigham at nbrigham@reviewjournal.com.
