When Steven Seagal was sued for driving a tank into a house and killing a dog: “Beyond the pale”
One morning in 2011, Jesus Sanchez Llovera was awoken by an almighty racket at his rural property in Maricopa County, Arizona. The cause of the ruckus? Steven Seagal driving a tank through his gate.
Naturally, this was a pretty stunning turn of events, and Llovera immediately called 911. Suddenly, though, a group of at least 30 Tactical Operations Unit sheriff’s deputies, each one armed to the teeth and in full riot gear, kicked his door in and dragged him out of the house into the cold light of day. Llovera didn’t resist arrest, not that he would have been able to do much against such an overwhelming force. He then jumped out of his skin when the authorities used “ear-crushing diversionary bombs” as they exited the V-150 tank that had punched through his driveway gate.
With all the chaos going on, Llovera’s animals, including goats, sheep, guineas, peacocks, roosters, hens, and chickens, panicked and sought cover. He was then stunned to discover that Sheriff Joe Arpaio had assembled a full SWAT team, and the services of one portly former action movie star, to bust a supposed cockfighting ring operating out of his property. A year earlier, Llovera – a chicken farmer – had been arrested at an illegal cockfight, and this was all Arpaio needed to put two and two together that he was masterminding an entire ring. After the raid, he found himself facing 115 charges of raising chickens to fight to the death.
On the day, though, despite the welfare of these 115 chickens supposedly being the primary reason for Arpaio’s raid, the local news reported that many of the animals were still unclaimed hours after the raid. It was unknown whether Animal Control had been called to pick them up, rendering the whole thing undeniably farcical. As neighbour Debra Ross noted about the absurd situation, “When the tank came in and pushed the wall over, and you see what’s in there, and all it is, is a bunch of chickens.”
Speaking of absurd, once Llovera got over the initial shock of his tiny farm being stormed like it was the heavily guarded compound of a cartel leader, he realised why the ponytailed former star of Above the Law was part of the operation. With the help of lawyer Robert Campus, he set about suing Seagal to the tune of $100,000, accusing him of wasting tens of thousands of taxpayers’ dollars on an elaborate operation designed to boost the profile of his reality TV show Steven Seagal: Lawman. Worse, he also accused the haphazard operation of resulting in the death of his kids’ 11-month-old puppy, and specified that he wanted the actor to pen a “formal written apology” to the children.
Arguing with the accusation that the entire thing was a publicity stunt for Lawman would have been difficult for Seagal, mostly because it transpired that the whole thing was indeed filmed for the show. In that regrettable piece of 2010s reality television, Seagal indulged his thirst for ‘justice’ by accompanying real police officers as they hunted down bad guys, occasionally throwing in some phoney martial arts wisdom for good measure.
For the benefit of the show, Seagal claimed to be a ‘real’ lawman, thanks to his time as a member of the volunteer reserve programme in Louisiana’s Jefferson Parish. Oh, and a certificate he supposedly obtained from passing the Peace Officer Standards & Training course at a Los Angeles police academy – a course the LA Times found no official record of.
Regardless of whether Seagal actually had any law enforcement bona fides or not, he did take part in the raid, and was fair game for Llovera’s lawsuit. He categorically denied having any involvement in the death of Llovera’s puppy, though, and even questioned whether a dead dog even existed at all. “I’ve been called a lot of things in my career, some of them not so kind,” Seagal said in a press release, seemingly oblivious to the delicious irony of those words. “But to be labelled an animal abuser is beyond the pale, and that is simply a role I will not accept.”
For his part, Arpaio claimed, “No dog was even injured, much less killed, during the operation. In fact, no firearm was discharged during the course of this operation.” He also pointed out that if a dog had truly been killed, there would be footage of it happening. All in all, the entire operation was a debacle, and it was never proven whether a doggo had perished or not. In fact, it seemed like everyone just wanted to forget the whole thing ever happened, as Llovera’s 115 charges were dropped, and he chose not to pursue his lawsuit against Seagal. What a mess.
