By Alex Wood
Journal Inquirer, Manchester, Connecticut.
STAMFORD, Connecticut – A city police lieutenant violated a resident’s free speech rights when he arrested him in 2018 for holding “Cops Ahead” signs just blocks from a police crackdown targeting people using cell phones while driving, a federal judge said.
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The ruling by Judge Omar A. Williams of the U.S. District Court in Hartford last week is a victory for Michael Friend, a food delivery driver and occasional protester against government actions, in his lawsuit against Lt. Richard Gasparino of the Stamford Police Department.
The judge ruled that Gasparino violated Friend’s right to free speech under the First Amendment when he confiscated at least one “Cops Ahead” sign and arrested Friend for obstructing police. The charge was later dismissed in court.
Attorneys Barbara L. Coughlan and Elliot B. Spector, who represent Gasparino in the case, could not immediately be reached Monday.
The ruling does not specify how much money Friend is entitled to in compensation for the violation of his rights.
If the case is not settled, the amount of compensation will be determined at a separate hearing, said Dan Barrett, legal director of the American Civil Liberties Foundation of Connecticut, which is representing Friend in the case.
Local governments often pay fines for court rulings against police officers and other public employees.
The judge denied motions from both sides for summary judgment on whether Gasparino maliciously prosecuted Friend, which could lead to a jury trial unless a plea agreement is reached.
Two other charges in Friend’s complaint, both relating to the $25,000 bail that kept him in custody for several hours after his arrest on Hope Street in Stamford in April 2018, were dismissed at an earlier stage of the case.
A key point of contention in the case was whether Gasparino was entitled to “qualified immunity” from liability for the confiscation of Friend’s “Cops Ahead” sign and his arrest. Under federal law, police officers are entitled to qualified immunity when it is legally unclear whether their actions violate citizens’ constitutional rights.
Citing a 2008 Connecticut Supreme Court decision, Williams wrote that “speech that ‘merely questions the authority of a police officer or protests his actions’ is ‘exempt’ from state law prohibiting interference in police work.”
“In particular, if the defendant’s order to the plaintiff to cease and desist from speaking was made by silently posting a sign on a public sidewalk that neither obstructed officers’ ability to stop law-breaking drivers nor obstructed their view in determining whether the drivers were using mobile devices, any instructions the defendant gave him to cease and desist from speaking were unlawful,” the judge wrote.
In a summary of the facts of the case, the judge wrote that on April 12, 2018, around 4 p.m., Friend was near the intersection of Hope and Greenway Streets in Stamford when he saw local police officers issuing tickets to drivers for using cell phones while driving.
Friend saw Gasparino, then a sergeant, hiding behind a pole on the side of the road on Hope Street and alerting other police officers when he saw a motorist using a cellphone, the judge wrote.
Friend considered this tactic “underhanded” and, according to the judge, used a marker and paper to create a “Cops Ahead” sign, which he placed at the corner of Hope and Cushing Streets, two blocks south of where he had seen Gasparino.
A short time later, Gasparino confronted Friend, confiscated the sign, ordered him not to come back with a sign and threatened to arrest him if he did not follow orders, the judge wrote.
Friend eventually positioned himself outside a grocery store three blocks south of where he first saw Gasparino, holding more signs that also said “Cops Ahead.” According to the judge, Gasparino arrested him about a half hour later.
According to Barrett, Friend was initially held on $25,000 bail, but after hearings, he was released around 2 a.m. the next day after giving a written promise to appear in court, the judge wrote.
Barrett said Friend’s temporary detention caused him to lose his job as a food delivery driver for one night.
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