NewsMax.com. Monday, May 22, 2000
Miami – Donato Dalrymple, the "fisherman" who saved Elian from the sea, filed a lawsuit today in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida in Miami against Attorney General Janet Reno, Deputy Attorney General Eric Holder and INS Commissioner Doris Meissner for
violating his Fourth and Fifth Amendment constitutional rights during the raid on the home of the relatives of Elian Gonzalez on April 22, 2000.
As seen in the famous Associated Press photograph from the raid, 6-year-old Elian was torn from Mr. Dalrymple's arms at gunpoint. The lawsuit seeks damages in excess of $100 million. Mr. Dalrymple is represented by Judicial Watch Inc., the public interest law firm that investigates and
prosecutes government corruption.
The lawsuit seeks to hold Reno, Holder and Meissner personally accountable for their lawless raid, which resulted in denying Mr. Dalrymple his Fourth Amendment right to be free from unreasonable search and seizure and his Fifth Amendment right to due process of law (among other damages).
The text of the complaint is available on the Judicial Watch Internet site at www.judicialwatch.org.
Judicial Watch is also filing today a lawsuit in Miami on behalf of an innocent bystander, Mike Stafford, who was assaulted and gassed during the illegal raid.
Judicial Watch will hold a press conference on Monday on the steps of the Federal Court House in Miami with Donato and Stafford.
"On Easter weekend, America was disgraced and harmed as Reno, Holder and Meissner sent armed thugs to bring Elian back under the control of the communist dictator Fidel Castro.
"Mr. Dalrymple's lawsuit seeks to hold these three personally accountable for their failure to obey the law and their willingness to destroy the liberties and lives of those who saved Elian and gave him refuge.
This lawsuit will do much to rescue the heritage of this great nation," stated Judicial Watch Chairman and General Counsel Larry Klayman.
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