Mandalay Bay sued in 2004 incident

Sam Skolnik

Monday, Dec. 11, 2006 | 7:30 a.m.

Three men from Los Angeles sued Mandalay Bay in U.S. District Court in Las Vegas last week, claiming they were assaulted and falsely arrested two years ago by hotel security guards looking for gun-toting, mask-wearing men.

Steven Reed, Darrell Clark and Alvin Spears contend in the suit that on Oct. 17, 2004, security guards had been chasing the mask-wearing men, who also were black, when the guards ran into them.

The guards then accused Reed, Clark and Spears of being the men they were chasing, and "started verbally assaulting the plaintiffs and striking the body of the plaintiffs," according to the suit, which was filed Tuesday. The guards then forced the men to the ground and handcuffed them, the suit says.

The Los Angeles men say they were physically and emotionally injured, and falsely imprisoned. They had to go to doctors to treat their injuries, the suit alleges.

The men also claim Mandalay Bay failed to provide adequate security measures, and did not warn customers of the "potentially dangerous condition."

It is unclear why the suit was filed more than two years after the incident took place. The Culver City, Calif., attorney for the men, Andrew Ellis, could not be reached for comment Friday afternoon.

Likewise, neither the attorney for Mandalay Bay, David Porter of Costa Mesa, Calif., nor a spokesman for MGM Mirage, which owns Mandalay Bay, could be reached.