A Chicago court has dropped its charges against three young street preachers who were arrested while peacefully sharing the Gospel on a footpath near a city park.
The American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ) filed a federal civil rights lawsuit earlier this year against the city of Chicago on behalf of Brett Raio, Reetik Dhamala and Perez Ndi.
The trio was arrested near Millennium Park for one reason only, the legal group claims.
Namely, peacefully preaching the Gospel in a public space.
“THEY WERE SIMPLY PROCLAIMING TRUTH”
“They weren’t causing disruption. They weren’t blocking traffic. They weren’t threatening anyone,” wrote ACLJ Associate Counsel Liam Harrell.
“They were simply proclaiming truth – using a small battery operated speaker system, reading Scripture, sharing the Gospel, calling people to Christ.”
“And for that, they were handcuffed and taken into custody,” Mr. Harrell observed.
WHAT SPARKED THE POLICE INTERVENTION
One individual approached and heckled the preachers, who then moved the speaker away from the heckler in an attempt to try to appease him.
“The individual continued heckling, so Brett Raio explained that ‘This is the best we can do because we still want everyone to hear the Gospel, you know.’
The lawsuit alleges this individual then called the police about to complain about the preachers’ conduct.
Officers arrived at the scene, demanding that they lower the volume of the microphone and asked for their permit.
In response, Mr. Raio said, “Officer, there’s no permit for the First Amendment.“
PREACHERS CLAIMED THEY WERE EXERCISING THEIR FIRST AMENDMENT RIGHTS TO FREE SPEECH
One of the officers attempted to grab the speaker, but Mr. Raio objected.
He made it clear to the officers that the group did not have a permit, but they were exercising their First Amendment right to speech.
Mr. Raio was then arrested.
He later showed video evidence of the interaction during a hearing at the Chicago Department of Administrative Hearings.
The charges were subsequently dropped.
PREACHERS ARRESTED AGAIN THE DAY AFTER FIRST CHARGES DROPPED
However, the next day, when the preachers returned to the same intersection to share the Gospel, they were again arrested by police officers and taken to jail.
The ACLJ claimed the preachers’ First Amendment rights were again violated because they faced “unwarranted criminal charges for exercising their constitutionally protected right to share their faith in public.”
“This alarming development demonstrates a pattern of enforcement that disregards well-established constitutional protections,” it added.
“THE CITY IS INTENT ON SILENCING STREET PREACHERS THROUGH UNLAWFUL ARRESTS”
“The fact that more street preachers are being arrested for peacefully expressing their beliefs indicates that the issue is far from resolved,” said Mr. Harrell.
“If the city is intent on continuing to silence street preachers through unlawful arrests, this could have broad implications for free speech.”
“Not just for religious speakers, but for anyone engaging in public expression,” the ACLJ counsel continued.
After more than six months of court hearings, the judge dismissed the case.
CITY OF CHICAGO DRAGGED OUT THE CASE TO PUNISH THE YOUNG PREACHERS
“After multiple continuances, forcing these men to come to court multiple times, we finally showed up ready for trial,” revealed Mr. Harrell.
“At the last possible moment, Chicago was not ready,” he explained.
“Chicago made these young men go through almost six months of court hearings, of trial procedures, pre-trial preparations, all for at the last minute for the city of Chicago to be unprepared,” he reflected.
ONE OF THE PREACHERS WAS ALSO ARRESTED IN NEW YORK
A similar action happened to Perez Ndi when he preached near Broadway in the heart of New York City.
Police approached him, demanding to see a permit.
Perez tried to speak with the officers and despite not resisting, he was put in handcuffs and charged with preaching without a permit.
ANOTHER POWERFUL AFFIRMATION OF THE FIRST AMENDMENT
Mr Harrell reflected: “You would think that New York City had enough to deal with, but apparently, this young man preaching on the street warranted a police response.”
The ACLJ noted the US Supreme Court has consistently ruled that any law “subjecting the exercise of First Amendment freedoms to the prior restraint of a licence, without narrow, objective, and definite standards to guide the licensing authority, is unconstitutional.”
As in Chicago, the New York judge dismissed the case outright in another powerful affirmation of the First Amendment.
BATTLE IS NOT OVER WITH ANOTHER CASE STILL PENDING
The ACLJ’s Liam Harrell said while this is a victory for these young men, the battle is not over.
“They can go back out onto the streets and continue to evangelise and preach.”
“But unfortunately, because our federal case is still pending, their ability to preach and to evangelise is being chilled and threatened by potential further enforcement,” he explained.
“They can go home free men, but we still need to fight to make sure this doesn’t happen again,” Mr Harrell declared.
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