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A Tennessee man who was arrested in a pre-dawn raid after he filmed and criticized a police officer sued the police department alleging it violated his First Amendment right to free expression.
The civil lawsuit against the city of Kingsport, its police chief and its officers was filed by the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE) in 2023 on behalf of Joshua Gibbons, but he is only now making the complaint public after he was successful in having his conviction overturned and the remaining charge dismissed by the Tennessee Court of Criminal Appeals.
“They tried to intimidate me, but I’m not backing down,” Gibbons said in a statement. “I can’t let this injustice stand, because my family doesn’t feel safe anymore. There’s no coming back from that raid on our home. They sent eight heavily armed officers to arrest me because I embarrassed them.”
In October 2022, Gibbons filmed a Kingsport Police Department SUV speeding at night without lights or sirens, which the lawsuit alleges violated department policy and state law. He followed the vehicle and approached the officer at a fast food drive-thru, where he filmed his brief criticism of the officer’s conduct.
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Joshua Gibbons sued the police department over allegations it violated his First Amendment rights. (Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression)
“When he caught up with the officer, the officer did the right thing. He ignored Joshua Gibbons, didn’t arrest him, didn’t view it as a crime, and went and got his hamburger,” FIRE Senior Attorney Adam Steinbaugh told Digital.
Gibbons, who uploads videos of police on duty as a way to hold them accountable, later published a second video of an officer giving him the middle finger.
A fellow citizen later complained to the department about the officer’s conduct, and the department responded by searching Gibbons’ YouTube channel for something to use against him, according to FIRE.
The department found the video of their own officer speeding. But instead of disciplining the officer, officers were sent to arrest Gibbons.
“The First Amendment protects the right not only to criticize and film police, but also to post it online. The police department didn’t treat this as a crime until Joshua posted this online and embarrassed the department,” Steinbaugh said.
Joshua Gibbons faced two trials over nearly four years before a Tennessee appellate court recently dismissed the charges. (Zelina Photography)
Steinbaugh also said the case was “as lawless as it was hypocritical” and that the department’s actions “were all to make an example out of a critic.”
According to the lawsuit, within two hours of being “made aware” of Gibbons’ video of the speeding officer, an arrest warrant for Gibbons was obtained for speeding, using a cell phone while driving and disorderly conduct. The warrant was obtained from a court clerk rather than a judge, according to FIRE.
Just before dawn the following morning, eight armed officers were captured on security and cell phone footage raiding Gibbons’ house and arresting him in front of his elderly mother and his daughter, just nine days after he filmed and criticized the speeding officer.
Gibbons then faced two trials over nearly four years before a Tennessee appellate court recently dismissed the charges.
“That’s a long process that can take a mental toll on someone. I think that Joshua wants to send a message to this department. I think he wants to see some reforms to this department, and we’re happy to support him,” Steinbaugh said.
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The civil lawsuit was filed against the city of Kingsport, its police chief and its officers. (Kingsport Police)
In the first trial, a judge acquitted him of the speeding and cell phone charges but found Gibbons guilty of disorderly conduct, saying he was “offended by the way” Gibbons was “talking to that officer.” Gibbons appealed to the county circuit court, and a jury found him guilty of disorderly conduct.
But in June, the Court of Criminal Appeals of Tennessee unanimously overturned the verdict and dismissed the disorderly conduct charge, finding there was “no evidence” that Gibbons’ criticism of the officer “prevented any person from doing any lawful activity.”
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The court said Gibbons “did not threaten anyone, did not engage in any violent behavior, and did not create a physically offensive or hazardous condition.” The court noted that even “‘profane and insulting’ words alone will not rise to the level of a crime, particularly when uttered against the police, who ‘are trained to exercise a higher degree of restraint than the average citizen.'”
“If you are a law enforcement officer, you are required by your uniform and by the First Amendment to tolerate criticism. Some of that’s going to be fair criticism, some of it’s going to be unfair criticism. But you don’t get to go and arrest people for it. That’s the message we want to send to this department and to departments around the country,” Steinbaugh said.
Kingsport Police did not respond to Digital’s request for comment in time for publication.
