ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (KRQE) – The battle between the City of Albuquerque and the downtown strip club Knockouts continues with the strip club filing a new lawsuit. Knockouts is suing the city and the mayor after the club’s attorney says the city violated city police after the mayor suspended its sexually oriented business license.
According to the lawsuit, on March 4, their appeal was denied and legally, Knockouts had ten days to shut down. Instead, the lawsuit claims, immediately after the appeal was denied, city employees and eight armed police officers wrongfully came into the business to shut it down. The club’s attorney talked to News about the incident the day after it happened. “The lights turned on, the music turned off and ordered everyone to vacate the premises,” said Attorney Paul Kennedy.
At the time, a city spokesperson said in part that “initially the city believed the closure was effective immediately…and talked with employees before getting told by legal the closure would be in ten days.”
Knockouts’ license to be a sexually oriented business is suspended but it is still open as a bar operating under its state-issued liquor license.
