Man Arrested For Parodying Mayor On Twitter Files Civil Rights Lawsuit

mpicpp (3454017) writes with an update from Ars Technica to this story: "The Illinois man who made headlines when he was detained for parodying the town's mayor on Twitter sued the Peoria politician and local police, claiming on Thursday that his civil rights were violated. As part of the April raid, the authorities seized the mobile phone and laptop of the 29-year-old prankster, Jonathan Daniel, and reviewed their contents, which he says was in violation of his First Amendment rights. Daniel, the operator of the @peoriamayor handle shut down by Twitter after the city threatened a lawsuit, was initially accused of impersonating a public official in violation of Illinois law. The authorities never lodged charges, however."

Shut up and take my money

[Anonymous Coward]

Is there a crowdfunding site where I can donate to his legal fund? I can't stand Illinois, and any time somebody scores a victory against the government there it brightens my day.

Jonathan Daniel won the legal lottery

[sinij]

This is open-and-shut case, and the only question is what the settlement and payout to Jonathan Daniel would be.

Re:Jonathan Daniel won the legal lottery

[LordLucless]

Right - they never lodged charges, but they stole his stuff, and read his private papers anyway. That's sorta the whole point.

Left something out

[PopeRatzo]

Why does the summary not mention the name of the mayor? It's pertinent, no?

Re:Shut up and take my money

[PopeRatzo]

In this case, it's an Illinois Republican. Elected with 100% of the vote, yet apparently has somewhat thin skin.

And he's a numb skull if he thinks arrest is going to fly with higher courts. It's perfectly legal to parody a public official in the US.

In fact, I'm pretty sure most of our elected officials are parodies of public servants.

Re:Is this still the Land of the Free ?

[NoKaOi]

I sadly can't think of a better alternative, though.

For a start, how about calling "campaign contributions" what they really are, "bribes," and make it illegal.

Re:Shut up and take my money

[dbIII]

I see this (like the insane Terry Childs situation) as yet another reason why having city police instead of just state and federal police is structurally unsound. A state police department could consider it as a request to arrest a potential lawbreaker while with city police it's an order from their boss with little or no oversight.

And he's a numb skull if he thinks arrest is going to fly with higher courts

I don't think he cares, the arrest alone is a punishment and a demonstration of "might makes right" Soviet style.

Re:Jonathan Daniel won the legal lottery

[Anonymous Coward]

they detained him legally, I believe, and released him without charge

False arrests need to be treated as felonies and the police responsible need to be placed in prison like other felons.

With all of the thousands and thousands of laws which were designed to allow police and 'officials' to create charges out of thin air, none of them applied to this person. This person did absolutely nothing wrong in the eyes of the law, yet an armed paramilitary wing of the city government came to kick his door in. The problem with this paramilitary wing coming to kidnap you is that they have a checklist where they can start shooting you for 'officer safety' and get away with it. This checklist includes things such as 'he looked like a drug crazed domestic terrorist who had a firearm somewhere in the house' and 'he owned a dog'.

Put the police in prison where they belong.

Re:Shut up and take my money

[AmiMoJo]

At this stage he probably doesn't have much confidence in law enforcement.