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Drumming Anti-War Protester's Civil Rights Claim Survives

By Shari Allison

Fogarty v. Gallegos, 2008 WL 1765018 (4/18/08) (Published) - The 10th affirms for the most part Judge Johnson's ruling in favor of the civil rights plaintiff in denying summary judgment motions by officers involved in the crack-down on Iraq War protestors near UNM. The plaintiff had sufficiently alleged that his disorderly conduct arrest was without probable cause because his calm drumming of a samba in the street at a reasonable volume, not in an "inciting marching cadence," [while perhaps not concert quality] did not have the potential to cause violence or other serious public disruption. The officers' defense relied on characterizations of the protest in general. But they needed individually-justified probable cause to arrest the plaintiff...continue to full post

Full post as published by Tenth Circuit Blog on April 29, 2008 (boomark / email).