Metro officer charged with oppression, battery was target of multiple federal lawsuits

On a cold February night in 2018, Jaaye Person-Lynn was pulled over on Interstate 15 toward Las Vegas for what he thought would be a simple speeding ticket.

But when he turned off at Primm and stopped his car, he said he ended up in handcuffs and spent more than 30 hours in jail.

The officer who pulled him over was Metropolitan Police Department Sgt. Kevin Menon, who was arrested Aug. 30 on suspicion of a “pattern of unlawful detentions,” according to his arrest report. The actions he is accused of include pretending to be a “suspicious person” in order to talk with people before arresting them, shoving a fellow officer and provoking citizens to make arrests without probable cause.

Menon, accused of battery on another Metro officer and illegally detaining people, has been a defendant in multiple federal lawsuits in recent years, court records show, including one brought by Person-Lynn. All of the lawsuits were eventually dismissed.

The most recent lawsuit was resolved with a $75,000 settlement against the defendants, which included Menon, another officer and the police department. The lawsuit stemmed from a 2018 traffic stop involving a surgeon visiting Las Vegas, and was dismissed the same day Menon was arrested, federal court records show.

Menon previously worked with Metro’s Gang Enforcement Unit, police records show. He was assigned to the Tourist Safety Division at the time of his arrest.

Ultimately, Person-Lynn, an attorney in California, said he decided not to move forward with his lawsuit against Menon, as he was left feeling “drained and depleted” from the situation.

“I knew somebody that lied and violated me as blatantly as he did would keep going,” Person-Lynn said. “I still deal with the effects of what he did to me.”

Attempts to reach Menon for comment were not successful.

‘Out there shivering’

Person-Lynn crossed the California-Nevada state border and was pulled over at Primm on Feb. 23, 2018.

According to his arrest report, written and signed by Menon, his rental car traveled “approximately 0.4 miles before stopping,” the distance between where the stop occurred and the state line.

As it was nighttime and he knew the exit at Primm was nearby, Person-Lynn said he was hesitant to stop right on the I-15 for safety reasons.

“I know that when vehicles are slow to stop upon the signal of a police officer, it is often a delay tactic which is employed by subjects to conceal or retrieve weapons or contraband,” Menon wrote in the report.

Menon asked Person-Lynn to step out of the vehicle, the report said.

“I observed that Person-Lynn was wearing a flowing shirt, which extended past his waist and consisted of a pattern which made it difficult to discern whether he had anything concealed in his waistband,” Menon wrote in the report.

Person-Lynn, who is Black, said he was wearing an African print shirt at the time. He said he was then handcuffed and left standing in the cold winter night.

“I’m out there shivering,” he said.

Eventually, all three passengers in the car were also removed from the vehicle and handcuffed, according to Person-Lynn. He said he had house guests visiting from South Africa and that immigration agents were called.

His arrest report confirmed that U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement Homeland Security Investigations agents showed up on the scene.

Menon ultimately conducted a search of the vehicle, finding and confiscating guns that Person-Lynn said were legally owned and ultimately were returned to him. The officer also found an open bottle of wine in the backseat.

Person-Lynn was taken into custody and spent more than 30 hours in jail, he said. He said he believed this was largely because of the presence of weapons in the vehicle, as Menon was on Metro’s Gang Enforcement Unit at the time, his arrest report confirms.

Since the incident, Person-Lynn said he has been deeply affected and began attending therapy. “I’m still a man, a Black man, with pride,” he said. “It was a trauma, and trauma changes things.”

The California Bar reviewed clips from Menon’s body camera footage, and, despite Person-Lynn being charged and convicted for resisting a public officer, found that the allegations were not consistent with the footage, he said. Person-Lynn kept his license and is still a practicing defense attorney.

‘Audible incredulity and taunting’

In a separate lawsuit, surgeon Martin Uwah alleged he and his wife were stopped in a parking lot near the University of Nevada, Las Vegas on the night of Sept. 24, 2018. The two had been driving through a “high crime area” being patrolled by Metro’s gang unit, the lawsuit said.

The lawsuit stated Uwah pulled into the parking lot to read directions to his hotel on his phone’s GPS when Menon approached him.

Uwah alleged that Menon and another officer demanded he get out of the car but would not tell him why he was pulled over. Uwah eventually got out when Menon “threatened to physically pull Dr. Uwah out of the car,” according to the lawsuit.

Menon was then accused of twisting Uwah’s arm behind his back and slamming Uwah “face-first onto the hood of the police vehicle,” while placing him in handcuffs. Menon did not tell Uwah why he was being arrested, according to the lawsuit.

“When Dr. Uwah informed Officer Defendants that he was a physician, they reacted with visible and audible incredulity and taunting,” according to the lawsuit.

Uwah, who is Black, told an officer on the scene that he was apprehensive of police when he was pulled over and that he felt like Menon “was trying to find a reason to get me,” the lawsuit said.

An attorney representing Menon and Metro did not respond to a request for comment on Thursday.

According to the lawsuit, Uwah was booked into the Clark County Detention Center on suspicion of obstruction and failing to use his turn signal, although the lawsuit alleged he did use his signal “at all points of this encounter.” The Clark County district attorney’s office denied the charges and did not prosecute the case, the lawsuit said.

A third lawsuit against Menon was filed by a former inmate, Aaron Russel Drain, who filed a lawsuit from High Desert State Prison, alleging Menon illegally searched him during a routine traffic stop without probable cause. A judge ruled in favor of Menon on Jan. 1, closing the case.

Menon is facing charges of oppression under the color of office, including one with force, subornation of perjury, or inducing someone to lie under oath, and battery on a protected person. He is scheduled to appear in court on Oct. 7.

Contact Estelle Atkinson at eatkinson@reviewjournal.com. Follow @estellelilym on X and @estelleatkinsonreports on Instagram. Contact Katelyn Newberg at knewberg@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0240.