A federal lawsuit has been filed against the city of Buffalo, N.Y.,
alleging that police threatened to arrest a Christian for peacefully
handing out tracts and talking with passersby who were willing to chat
with him on public property.
The complaint was filed by the Alliance Defense Fund on behalf of Gregory Owen.
While handing out tracts to willing recipients on a public street
during a public festival, Owen was approached by a police officer who
declined to identify himself but told him that the Buffalo Police
Department is “the law” and he should stop handing out tracts.
According to the lawsuit: “Subsequently, another police officer,
Officer Slomka, arrived on the scene. She quickly informed Owen that
they could not hand out tracts in the festival and explained that the
prohibition was ‘by our orders.’ Owen asked for her name, and she
replied: ‘Slomka, write it down.’ Owen advised that he believed the
tracts to be free speech; nonplussed, Officer Slomka reiterated that
they couldn’t hand out tracts there and had to go outside of the
festival area to continue with their expressive activity.”
Then, “Owen inquired as to whether they would be arrested if they
continued to hand out tracts in the festival area, to which, Officer
Slomka replied: ‘Yes.’”
Nate Kellum, one of more than 2,100 attorneys in the ADF alliance,
said people of faith “shouldn’t be threatened with arrest for peacefully
expressing their beliefs.”
“The Constitution and court precedent in these types of cases is
clear: Officials cannot toss someone out of a public event simply
because they don’t like the views he’s expressing,” he said.
“This is a classic example of free speech that the First Amendment protects,” he said.
City officials declined to respond to a WND request for comment.
READ MORE
No comments:
Post a Comment