DELLWOOD, Mo. — A woman is suing a North County Police Cooperative officer, saying he violated her First Amendment rights by taking her cell phone while she recorded him arresting a man.
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Missouri and the First Amendment Clinic at Washington University School of Law announced in a news release that they filed suit on behalf of Sarah Townsend on Friday.
The ACLU of Missouri said that the incident happened in August of 2018 at the Mobil Gas Station on West Florissant Avenue in Dellwood.
The ACLU provided what it says is Townsend's cell phone video of the incident.
The suit said that Townsend went to the station to buy gas and soda and struck up a conversation with a man in a wheelchair. While they were talking, Townsend said the officer, who the suit identified as T. Williams, pulled up and prepared to arrest the man without giving an explanation.
The suit said Townsend began recording the arrest while following the officer's instructions, telling the officer the man hadn't been bothering her and asking why he was being arrested.
Then, the suit says, the officer grabbed her phone out of her hand and threw it into her car. When Townsend grabbed her phone and started recording again, the officer took it from her again, turned it off and put it in his pocket, all while cursing at Townsend and threatening to arrest her, the suit says.
“Sarah Townsend acted appropriately,” First Amendment Clinic Director Lisa Hoppenjans was quoted as saying in the release. “Her brave attempt to exercise her rights was met with conduct that was not just unprofessional but also unconstitutional. Our Constitution does not allow this type of retaliation.”
North County Police Cooperative Chief John Buchannan said in a statement that he hadn't heard about the allegation until he was contacted by the media. He directed further questions to St. Louis attorney Chet Pleban. A call to Pleban's office was not immediately returned.
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