Colorado Politics: A man has plausibly claimed Denver police officers arrested him without probable cause of a crime and instead in retaliation for exercising his First Amendment right to record them, a federal judge has ruled.
U.S. District Court Chief Judge Philip A. Brimmer rejected the city’s motion to dismiss the lawsuit of Kevin Detreville, who was recording with his cell phone inside the vestibule of the District 5 station in northeast Denver immediately prior to his arrest. The lawsuit and accompanying video suggested Detreville was not recording “in” the station, as nearby signage prohibited, but officers arrested him anyway.
“The Court further finds that a reasonable officer would not interpret the plain language of the sign to prohibit what plaintiff was doing, namely, recording outside of the Station door in a way that captured images of the inside of the Station,” Brimmer wrote in a Dec. 14 order.
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