Community council wants Washoe Tribal officers off their reservation

Tuesday, Aug. 12, 1997 | 12:36 p.m.

The five-member council passed a resolution Sunday asking the federal Bureau of Indian Affairs to provide police services after being excluded from a Washoe Tribal Council meeting on Friday.

One meeting topic was a report the BIA recently completed on a crash involving police Capt. Lionel Ahdunko's official car and a pickup.

Tribe members say Tribal Chairman Brian Wallace called for a closed session to talk about the report and that they waited nearly five hours before the meeting broke up.

Wallace wasn't available for comment. A woman who answered the phone at the tribe's nearby Gardnerville office said he's on vacation until Sept. 2.

The resolution passed by the community council said some Dresslerville residents "are arming themselves for protection against the Washoe Tribal Police."

The resolution also mentions "numerous complaints regarding serious incidents of civil rights violations, conspiracy, perjury and continued failure to properly administer the Washoe Tribal law enforcement contract."

In related action, Gary Peck, executive director of the Nevada chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union said the ACLU has received multiple reports of alleged brutality involving tribal police.

One complaints came from Dresslerville resident David James who accused Ahdunko of beating him during an arrest in July. James suffered a broken arm and ribs.

Peck also said the ACLU got a report of a November 1995 incident in which tribal police allegedly restrained a man involved in a domestic dispute and let others hit him with a shovel and a baseball bat.

Ahdunko has refused to comment on the allegations, first aired by tribal members who picked in front of tribal offices July 31.