Victims of alleged Harrah's assaults file lawsuits

ATLANTIC CITY (WPVI) -- Surveillance video allegedly shows staff at Harrah's Atlantic City beating, stomping, and manhandling patrons. Now, those victims want those guards to pay.

Almost a dozen people have now come forward claiming to have been brutalized by security personnel and off duty police officers at Harrah's.

Now, the lawyers representing the alleged victims in civil lawsuits have asked for criminal investigations by the Atlantic County prosecutor and the US Attorney.

They've also filed a civil rights complaint with the Justice Department.

"The last thing that Atlantic City needed is what happened to Sean Oaks and Rob Coney," attorney Paul D'Amato said.

Rob Coney and Sean Oaks have filed federal lawsuits.

They were captured on video surveillance in confrontations with security at Harrah's.

Coney says he argued with a guard about whether or not he had left a pool party.

It soon escalated into a full scale confrontation with other personnel and an off-duty Atlantic City cop in full uniform while moonlighting for Harrah's.

"I leave the club like they asked me to do and, once we step outside, this officer comes up to me and hits me in my throat," Coney of Bala Cynwyd, Pa. said.

The graphic video shows the officer repeatedly clubbing Coney with a baton while security personnel wrestle him to the ground where the beating continues.

He is unconscious and leaves a smear of blood behind when he is dragged away, and later taken to a holding cell.

Sean Oaks says he tried to get his driver's license back from a bouncer who started bending it.

Almost immediately, several other guards jump him from behind and tackle him to the ground, where he says he was pummeled by four men.

He says he was battered and bloodied when they led him away to the holding cell.

"It was humiliating, embarrassing, I had my power taken away from me. I was on the ground. All I could do was hope that they would stop," Oaks of Bala Cynwyd, Pa. said.

Both men are seeking monetary damages and an end to what they say is excessive force at the casino.

Action News has reached out to Harrah's parent company, Caesar's Entertainment, for comment, but they have not responded.