Sheriff Clubs Trump

Sussex County Lt. Vincent B. Givens said in court papers Thursday that he acted reasonably in following Sheriff Raymond R. Bell’s orders to shut down the Trump Restaurant and Lounge.

The owner of the defunct nightclub is suing Bell and Givens for $15 million. The complaint in U.S. District Court claims that the officials required the business to make under-the-table cash payments to moonlighting Sussex County deputies to provide security. Givens allegedly lied when he told the company that a local ordinance required Trump to hire deputies for security.

According to the lawsuit, Trump paid deputies $31,550 from Dec. 14, 2013, to July 5, 2014.

The nightclub closed after its owners clashed with Bell over plans to allow 18-to-20-year-olds into the lounge for an event in July 2014, the complaint says. The state Alcoholic Beverage Control Department approved the plan, provided steps were taken to ensure that alcohol was not served to underage customers. Bell objected and allegedly threatened to yank the company’s liquor license even though he lacks authority to do so.

The lawsuit says that Givens and other deputies, following Bell’s orders, blocked customers under 21 from entering the club. A manager who protested the action then recorded a phone call with a man who identified himself as the sheriff.

“And I’m telling you right now, there are no 18-year-olds coming into that club tonight, and if they do, I’ll come up there and close the whole damn club down,” the man who identified himself as Bell says in one excerpt included in the lawsuit.

In another, he says: “I got an election to run next year. You all are not going to sabotage my (expletive).”

After the call, Bell allegedly drove to Trump and ordered everyone to leave or face arrest. The club never reopened.

In his motion to dismiss, Givens argues that he never threatened to arrest anyone and that Trump closed as a result of a single threat by Bell to arrest a club manager. He also says it was reasonable for him to follow the sheriff’s orders to keep people under 21 out of Trump, and then to shut it down, because of a history of alcohol-induced violence and crimes there.

Bell has not filed any response to the lawsuit, and court records to not list an attorney for him. The sheriff did not return a telephone message Friday.