(C) Iowa Capital Dispatch
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City sued for arresting man who criticized Newton mayor and police [1]
['Clark Kauffman', 'More From Author', '- October']
Date: 2023-10-12
An Iowa man is suing the City of Newton for arresting him after he attempted to criticize the city’s police at a public meeting of elected officials.
The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court on behalf of Noah Peterson, alleges the mayor and police violated Peterson’s constitutional rights at a 2022 meeting of the Newton City Council.
The incident grew out of a viral video showing Newton police officers arresting 19-year-old Tayvin Galanakis on a charge of drunken driving on the night of Aug. 28, 2022. The arrest was made despite a breath test that showed Galanakis had a blood-alcohol level of zero.
The officers’ body-camera video of the arrest generated more than 2 million views when posted to YouTube Galanakis. It sparked a debate within the community about the officers’ actions, and led to a civil lawsuit against the city.
Peterson attended a meeting of the Newton City Council on Sept. 6, 2022, and during the period set aside for public comments, he called for defunding the Newton Police Department as “violent” organization that violates civil rights. The mayor interrupted Peterson and instructed him to stop “speaking disparagingly about the Newton Police Department” and he then threatened Peterson with arrest.
On Oct. 3, 2022, Peterson attended another council meeting. Video of the meeting shows that after being invited to speak, Peterson stated the police department was “currently employing a domestic abuser” – a reference to one of the police officers involved in the drunken-driving arrest – and said the city was “choosing to not release the records about that domestic abuser.”
The mayor interrupted Peterson, told him to stop speaking and summoned the police chief to the lectern where Peterson was standing. The police chief placed Peterson in handcuffs, arrested him, escorted Peterson out of the city council chambers and had him taken to jail where he was booked on a charge of disorderly conduct for disrupting a lawful assembly and placed in a cell.
In a press release the next day, the city stated Peterson was arrested for speaking “in a manner that was deemed to be in violation of the stated rules for citizen participation” in the meeting and for being “disruptive” by refusing to leave.
On Oct. 24, Peterson attended another council meeting at which the mayor gave attendees what he called “a little civics lesson” and reminded everyone of the city’s ban on derogatory comments at council meetings.
Video of the meeting shows that during the public comment period, Peterson began reading a prepared statement in which he called the mayor and the police chief “the top two fascists in this town” and called for both to be removed from office.
When Peterson refused the mayor’s request that he sit down, the mayor suspended the meeting and turned off the cameras in the City Council’s chambers. According to the lawsuit, Peterson and the mayor argued, and then the police chief and another officer handcuffed him and placed him under arrest for disorderly conduct.
The mayor allegedly told the audience that “activism” and disrespectful comments would not be allowed during council meetings “as long as I’m sitting in this chair,” adding that council meetings were not the place to be “political” or “politically active on issues.”
The criminal complaint in the Oct. 24 case states Peterson was criminally charged for “speaking negatively towards the mayor of Newton and the police chief.”
After Jasper County prosecutors declined to prosecute Peterson, lawyers for the city pursued the two cases against him. Peterson was found not guilty on the first charge, after which the city dropped the second charge. The city then abolished the rule banning derogatory comments at council meetings.
Peterson’s lawsuit seeks compensatory and punitive damages as well as a court order permanently enjoining the city from restraining free speech or retaliating against speakers.
Peterson’s case was filed by the Virginia-based Institute for Justice. The city has yet to file a response and the city attorney did not immediately return a message seeking comment Thursday afternoon.
“The right to criticize the government is a central pillar of our Constitution,” said Brian Morris, an attorney at the Institute for Justice. “By ordering their opponents arrested, Newton’s officials behaved like petty dictators in a banana republic, rather than democratically-elected leaders in a constitutional republic. Anyone with a high school diploma should know that having your political opponents arrested is a textbook example of violating someone’s First Amendment rights and we’re confident that the courts will agree.”
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