The Mega-Plex wants to bar Providence police from their property. Here's why.

PROVIDENCE – Allens Avenue LGBTQ+ club The Mega-Plex is seeking a court order barring the Police Department from “trespassing, harassment and over-policing” their patrons on the property based on their sexual orientation and in violation of their civil rights.

Spur Track Properties LLC, Narragansett Promotions Inc, and Steven Medeiros, manager and operator of the Mega-Plex at 527 Allens Ave., is asking the court to issue a temporary restraining order to block police activity on the property, which they argue is causing patrons to avoid the club and is hurting business.

They allege that over the last two years, city police have “routinely entered onto the property to harass the business owners and patrons.” Officers, the suit says, incorrectly treat Bay Street as a public road. The businesses assert that, in fact, the road was abandoned by the city in 1997 and was sold for $10,000 to H. Charles Tapalian, president of Cuatro Amigos Holding Corp., and The Pink Building, Inc., which owns  245 Allens Ave.

“[The] PPD have engaged in a pattern and practice of unlawful discrimination against The Mega-Plex … by continuously trespassing onto the property, unlawfully stopping and searching patrons on the property, and the frequency and severity of these actions has only increased in recent months,” the suit reads.

They accuse the police of violating their civil rights, as well as the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.

The city has denied the allegations and argues that "any injury or damage suffered by the plaintiffs was caused solely by reason of plaintiffs’ wrongful acts and/or conduct" and that the police officers' actions were "reasonable, proper and legal."

The Police Department declined comment through spokeswoman Lindsay Lague.

Suit alleges police followed Mega-Plex patrons as they left

The plaintiffs say the police followed a Mega-Plex patron to the Burger King on Eddy Street and attempted to search his vehicle because “he was coming from a high-drug area.” That same day, officers followed another patron to Wendy’s and searched his vehicle “because of where he came from,” they allege.

During the following months, several more patrons were pulled over by the police after exiting The Mega-Plex and searched for "no reason other than the fact that they had just exited the business," they say.

The business say it sent a cease and desist letter to Mayor Brett Smiley, asking that these “targeted enforcement activities immediately stop.”

“Thereafter the PPD patrol officers only increased in aggression,” they allege.

More: Providence LGBTQ+ club accuses police of harassment in new lawsuit. What it alleges.

`Flashing their lights and shining spotlights’

The suit accuses Providence officers of routinely driving through the area formerly known as Bay Street and the rear parking lots while flashing their lights and shining spotlights on people on the property throughout last October and November. The officers incorrectly argued they were on public property, the suit says.

On Feb. 9, one officer yelled "Mega-Plex is pumping out methamphetamines," Medeiros said in a sworn statement.

On Feb. 13, lawyer Joseph P. Carnevale IV alerted the City Solicitor’s Office of their intent to file for a restraining order.

“After initial communications on these issues, the PPD’s activity at the property immediately stopped … However, the PPD’s choice to respect plaintiff’s private property rights was very short-lived,” said Carnevale, who is representing the club with David Tice.

On March 4, officers resumed “their over-policing and trespassing” onto the property “for no reason other than to continue its campaign of ongoing harassment against business and its patrons,” they said.

They argue that court intervention is necessary to protect their property rights.

Lola’s Rendezvous

They cite similar allegations against the police made by Lola’s Rendezvous, the gay club that formerly operated on the property.

Medeiros, the proprietor of that business, filed suit against the city, alleging the same form of “trespassing, harassment and over-policing activity”  against its patrons.

“Unfortunately, because of the chilled business effects of the PPD’s activities there, that business was forced to permanently close,” the complaint says.

This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: Why a Providence gay club wants police off their property