Candidate physically removed from meeting sues Segerblom for slander

But Mack Miller’s legal complaint is not over the incident itself, but instead about a county lawmaker’s comments in the aftermath.

Miller has accused Commissioner Tick Segerblom of slander and libel, citing an interview with a local television station the day following the incident, where Segerblom said that Miller had “punched somebody.”

“No such video or any other evidence was ever produced,” according to the lawsuit, which was filed Feb. 2 in Clark County District Court.

On Sept. 21, Miller was rushed out of commission chambers by two private security officers and through a lobby metal detector, which nearly crashed down. Miller ended up on his back and, in an October interview, he said he had hurt his head.

The incident occurred during a break before the meeting’s main session, where lawmakers would ultimately adopt a contentious resolution to declare COVID-19 misinformation a public health crisis.

Two security officers from a county-employed firm had asked someone to put their face mask back on, in compliance with an indoor mask mandate in effect since July, when a group of attendees grew disruptive, forcing officers to clear the room, county officials said.

Miller said he had been defending women who he claimed were pushed by security. Videos that were shot by attendees and circulated on social media showed Miller had requested a name and badge number from at least one officer and then claimed he had been shoved.

Miller can be seen becoming belligerent. As he was being forcefully removed from chambers, he yelled: “There’s no way you’re going to stop me from protecting these people’s (expletive) rights!”

Segerblom responds; second lawsuit pending

In the lawsuit, Miller said Segerblom also spread video of the local news interview in question on his personal Twitter account and — responding to a demand letter from Miller’s attorney — made allegedly defamatory comments in two posts on his personal Twitter account in late December. In one, Segerblom referred to Miller as “the traitor.” In the other, he compared being sued by Miller to “being called ugly by a frog.”

Miller has a controversial background. He was sentenced to 18 months confinement for deserting his fellow Army soldiers on the frontline during the height of the Iraq War, and he pleaded guilty in 2017 to impersonating a police officer.

The lawsuit alleges that Segerblom’s public statements and social media activity had damaged Miller’s reputation, “worse still during an election year.” And it claims that the damages exceeded $100,000.

Segerblom on Wednesday said that he had been told by witnesses that Miller had hit someone and he had made the comment to the local news station in “good faith.”

”I take it very seriously,” Segerblom said about the lawsuit. “If I offended him, I’m sorry.”

Attorney Tim Treffinger, who is representing Miller, said that Segerblom’s responses in December to the pending lawsuit had been “kind of ridiculous.”

“It’s a very strange course of conduct for a government official who knows litigation’s coming,” he said.

Treffinger also said that a separate lawsuit centered around the incident with security could be forthcoming within the next 45 days, unless it is resolved beforehand.

He said it is expected to name the county and the security company as defendants and potentially some commissioners for their conduct during the September hearing.

The county concluded its review of the matter last fall without issuing a written report or any findings.

Contact Shea Johnson at sjohnson@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0272. Follow @Shea_LVRJ on Twitter.

Mack Miller Complaint by Las Vegas Review-Journal on Scribd