“Based on investigations from our police department over the past several years, it is clear that illegal activities of the Kurdish Pride gang have significant detracted from the quality of life and the feeling of safety in this area of south Nashville,” Mayor Karl Dean said.
This Tuesday, June 5, 2012 photo shows spray painted graffiti in the parking lot next to a ball field at a Nashville city par. City police filed a civil lawsuit on Tuesday claiming the Kurdish Pride, a street gang made up of Kurdish refugees, is a public nuisance and should be banned from from meeting anywhere within a 1.43-square-mile area south of downtown Nashville that includes city parks and neighborhoods.
Nashville police say they have filed the state’s first public nuisance lawsuit against a street gang made up of Kurdish refugees.
The lawsuit filed Tuesday names the Kurdish Pride Gang and 24 individuals accused of being members. It seeks to prohibit them from meeting anywhere within a 1.43-square-mile area south of downtown Nashville that includes city parks, an elementary school and neighborhoods.
“This is the first time in the state of Tennessee that a local government has sought to have a street gang and a group of its alleged members declared a public nuisance,” said Mayor Karl Dean.
The lawsuit is based on the addition of criminal gang activity to the state’s public nuisance law in 2009. Typically the public nuisance law has been used by cities and local governments to shut down businesses associated with crimes like prostitution and illegal alcohol sales or consumption.
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