Officials in a small Iowa town twice arrested a young man for criticizing the police department and saying it violates people's civil rights. Now the town is facing a lawsuit for violating his civil rights.
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"The mayor and police chief had Noah arrested, jailed, strip-searched, and criminally prosecuted simply because they didn't like what Noah had to say," the lawsuit states. "This suit is filed to vindicate the fundamental right to criticize the government without fear of retaliation and to ensure the constitutional accountability of all government officials."

Article: Iowa Man Files Lawsuit After Being Arrested Twice for Criticizing the Police at a Public Meeting

Well, that's going to be costly.

Mayor's are usually idiots and have no clue about anything.

Police, of which I am one, should know better, especially a chief. The chief should have known what he was doing was wrong. But, since most chiefs are appointed, they too are usually too far removed from the street to know anything either.

^^^ Well, the chief of police, I'm going out on a limb and say, is typically just a politician. And politicians are assholes 99% of the time.

quote:

Originally posted by Steve in PA:
Well, that's going to be costly.

Mayor's are usually idiots and have no clue about anything.

Police, of which I am one, should know better, especially a chief. The chief should have known what he was doing was wrong. But, since most chiefs are appointed, they too are usually too far removed from the street to know anything either.

Unfortunately, it’ll be the taxpayers that pay out…not the mayor or chief of police. This is why these public “servants” need to carry malpractice insurance-paid out of their own pockets-as a requirement of “serving.”

quote:

And politicians are assholes 99% of the time.

You really think it’s that low?

Well they sure proved his point, didn’t they?

quote:

Originally posted by bcereuss:

quote:

Originally posted by Steve in PA:
Well, that's going to be costly.

Mayor's are usually idiots and have no clue about anything.

Police, of which I am one, should know better, especially a chief. The chief should have known what he was doing was wrong. But, since most chiefs are appointed, they too are usually too far removed from the street to know anything either.

Unfortunately, it’ll be the taxpayers that pay out…not the mayor or chief of police. This is why these public “servants” need to carry malpractice insurance-paid out of their own pockets-as a requirement of “serving.”

And get rid of qualified immunity!

So the pattern is to win the case to prove something wrong happened, taxpayers pay out, and people that committed the crime are free to do what they did again. Is this just this system we have to live with now? Are there other options or states in the USA where this is different?

Maybe they can get the resignation of the mayor and chief of police as part of his (large) settlement.
The article clearly shows a pattern of illegal behavior.

I think this is about this same gentlemen that was his stop for a traffic incident and the Officer charged him with DUI even though he wasn't drinking and the officer took liberties with the law ~ as I recall.
I was outraged with the video (will ty to locate it) and even more so the Chief as I recall backed him up even with devastating body cam footage showing how wrong he was .... causing more outrage.
Newton, half way from Iowa City and Des Moines was not terribly far from where I grew up.
An example of Law Enforcement at it's worst, sorry to say.

What ever it takes to keep the few from spoiling it for the many.