A mother arrested in front of her daughter at an Arizona city council meeting, for refusing to stop criticizing the city attorney, is suing the City of Surprise, Mayor Skip Hall, and the police officer who arrested her at Hall’s direction, Steven Shernicoff, seeking damages from the public officials.
The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression followed through on its promise to sue the city and officials on behalf of Rebekah Massie, alleging violations of First Amendment freedom of speech and petition, Fourth Amendment unlawful seizure and false arrest, retaliatory arrest, an unconstitutionally broad and vague city council policy that bans “charges or complaints against any employee of the City or members of the body,” and municipal liability for the actions of Hall and Shernicoff.
FIRE is also representing a frequent speaker and critic at city council meetings, Quintus Schulzke, for chilling his speech by arresting Massie. “Surprise’s sudden move to arrest dissidents and enforce the Council Criticism Policy is casting a cloud of fear over the city,” the lawsuit says. It’s seeking an injunction against the criticism policy.
Hall recognized Massie to speak nearly two hours into the meeting, when the city council asked for feedback on a planned pay increase for the city attorney, but he repeatedly told her to stop for saying that official was already paid too much and had not done an “exceptional” job as the proposal claimed.
She said the city attorney had “not complied with the Constitution, state law, or his duties of professional conduct” in handling complaints about a mayoral candidate and “had been dilatory in responding to public records requests,” in FIRE’s paraphrase. The city attorney was present. […]
— Read More: justthenews.com
