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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Brother Speed motorcycle club settles lawsuit with feds over Idaho clubhouse raid

BOISE – Ten members of the Brother Speed Motorcycle Club, along with the club itself, will split a $16,500 payment from the U.S. government to settle their lawsuit over a 2013 raid on their Nampa, Idaho, clubhouse that yielded no charges.

The club and its members sued numerous federal agents and the government, saying their civil rights were violated when federal agents broke down the door, set off flash-bang grenades and sent dozens of heavily armed SWAT team members into the small home. The club members were detained for up to three hours while agents removed their personal property, including their clothing, and confiscated club memorabilia, according to the club’s attorney, Craig Durham.

“These were regular guys minding their own business that night,” Durham said. “They were not a threat, and there was no call for the use of terrifying, military-style tactics to serve a simple search warrant.”

The government admitted no wrongdoing but agreed to the settlement. The club will receive $4,000, and the individual members will receive payments ranging from $500 to $2,500.

“This was never about money,” said chapter President Daniel Bugli. “It was about standing up for our rights as citizens and members of this community. Law enforcement officers shouldn’t be able to run roughshod over people’s rights based on speculation and assumptions.”

Brother Speed was founded in Boise in 1969 by a group of men with a common passion for riding American-made motorcycles, Durham and Bugli said in a news release; it now has several chapters. Nampa/Caldwell chapter members are primarily tradesmen, they said, including a pipe fitter, a tile setter, an electrician and a plumber, among others. Four are retired.

In 2010, when the Idaho state budget was short, Brother Speed members collaborated with the state Department of Parks and Recreation to help maintain and keep open a state park in the Magic Valley. The Associated Press reported at the time that nine bikers in black leather jackets adorned with the group’s logo, a grinning skull, planted 75 maple trees in a corner of Thousand Springs State Park, working alongside college students, a Mormon group and a square dancing club.