The Oregonian | By Eder Campuzano | May 31, 2019
A woman is suing a security guard she says assaulted and tased her outside a Southeast Portland hookah bar and nightclub in mid-March.
The suit was filed by Michael Fuller on behalf of Leala Nicholas in Multnomah County on Tuesday and names the guard, Francisco Swafford, his employer, Nomil Chandra and Bear Arms Security Services, as well as the club: Lux PDX. They’re seeking up to $250,000 in damages.
The suit alleges Chandra and Bear Arms were neglectful in employing Swafford, arguing he was not properly screened before he was hired. Fuller and Nicholas say Swafford assaulted, battered and tased her on March 16, although the suit does not describe what happened that evening.
Fuller said Swafford approached his client “without warning” and tased her as she was trying to leave the club that evening.
“It’s something we see quite often that security guards and police officers are trigger-happy,” Fuller said. “If anything, she may have been a little bit loud outside the bar.”
But Swafford claims he was stepping in to stop a fight between Nicholas and a group of regulars as closing time approached at Lux that night.
He told The Oregonian/OregonLive that Nicholas and a male friend were holding her high heels as weapons. Swafford said the duo was ejected from the club earlier for destroying property.
Swafford said ordered the two to leave as he saw the incident played out. That’s when they rounded on him with the heels, he said, and he tased Nicholas.
“It was just a bad situation. I was trying to get them to go home — they didn’t want to go home,” Swafford said.
He said she was unfazed by the shock but then began to walk away. As Nicholas left the scene, Swafford said, she tripped on the curb outside Lux and fell.
Calls to Nicholas at a number provided by her attorney were not returned Saturday. She is requesting a jury trial.
Earlier this year, Swafford was named as the security guard who shot and killed a man who allegedly robbed him at another Southeast Portland establishment. Portland police arrested Henry I. McCollum, 49, who along with Eugene Pharr Jr., 42, reportedly threatened and plotted to steal from Swafford at the Dream On Saloon on Jan. 15.
Pharr died of a gunshot wound. McCollum was charged with first- and second-degree robbery, conspiracy to commit robbery, unlawful use of a weapon and felon in possession of a firearm. Swafford was cooperating with the investigation, police said at the time.
The club where Nicholas says Swafford tased her, Lux PDX, was also the site of a shooting in late December that left one person injured.
