Guards threw plaintiff Demecio Valdovinos against a parked car as he attempted to film them, then knelt on his back until he passed out from lack of breath, he claims in a complaint filed Monday. When Valdovinos awoke, he alleges, he found himself surrounded by Grant County sheriff's deputies who instructed him to stand, then again threw him to the ground and arrested him.
In addition to Live Nation, which owns and operates the amphitheater, Valdovinos is suing crowd management company Starplex Corp., Grant County, and individual guards and deputies. He's seeking unspecified damages for his claims of physical injuries, emotional suffering and lost wages, as well as punitive damages and attorney fees.
Though he was charged at the time with criminal trespassing, Valdovinos says, authorities released him from custody the same day and the charge was eventually dismissed.
It's unclear from the complaint what sparked the interaction. In the early morning hours after a show by Mexican grupero band Los Bukis, Valdovinos claims, he and his partner were sitting in his truck in the Gorge Amphitheatre parking lot when security personnel approached and instructed Valdovinos to exit the vehicle.
Guards then took him to what he says "appeared to be a medical station" at the amphitheater, though the suit offers no details about what occurred there.
"I am not sure what the security was thinking or why they wanted him to go to the medical tent," Valdovinos' lawyer, John J. Kannin IV of Kannin Law Firm PS, told Law360 in an email Monday. "Client was neither sick, nor injured. He complied with everything they told him to do."
After leaving the medical station, Valdovinos claims he was approached by a Starplex employee whom he tried to record on video. The employee attempted to knock Valdovinos' phone out of his hands, the plaintiff claims, but in doing so, the phone struck Valdovinos in the face, injuring his lip and cracking a tooth.
The employee then grabbed the phone and allegedly threw Valdovinos against a parked car and other guards took him to the ground, kneeling on his back and restricting his breathing so severely that he eventually passed out.
By the time he regained consciousness, he says, Grant County sheriff's deputies had surrounded him. The deputies instructed him to stand, then allegedly threw him back to the ground and knelt on his back, again causing him to pass out.
After being arrested, Valdovinos was held in a Grant County jail until later that evening on a criminal trespassing charge, his lawyer said. The charge was later dismissed.
"Criminal trespass is when you are told to leave and won't leave," Kannin said. "Here [my] client was trying to leave. Concert security and the sheriff detained him and injured him."
The allegedly brutal treatment caused injuries that required medical treatment and kept him away from work, Valdovinos claims. Defendants also "publicly humiliated and shamed" him, he says, resulting in mental pain and anguish.
Valdovinos also alleges in the lawsuit that Starplex and Grant County, which Live Nation hired to provide crowd control services at the venue, wrongfully deprived him of rights to privacy and due process. The order to exit his car, deputies' unreasonable use of force, and the warrantless arrest without probable cause violated his Fourth and Fourteenth Amendment rights, he claims.
The violations weren't mere one-offs, Valdovinos continues, but reflect how the California-based Live Nation and its contractors do business.
"The constitutional violations alleged herein were not isolated incidents, but the direct result of official policies, customs, and procedures adopted and enforced by defendant Live Nation Entertainment and defendant Starplex," he asserted in the complaint.
As examples, he pointed to "a policy of suspicionless vehicle searches of all concertgoers entering the Gorge campground and parking lot," "a custom of detaining patrons without probable cause," and "joint enforcement procedures whereby private security exercised quasi-police authority under county-sanctioned agreements."
Live Nation and Starplex did not immediately respond to requests for comment Wednesday.
A representative for Grant County declined to comment Wednesday, citing a policy of not discussing open litigation.
Valdovinos is represented by John J. Kannin IV of Kannin Law Firm PS.
Counsel information for Live Nation, Starplex and Grant County was not immediately available.
The case is Valdovinos v. Live Nation Entertainment Inc. et al., case number 2:25-cv-00324, in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Washington.
--Editing by Janice Carter Brown.
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