The following report is by WXIN:
SOUTH BEND, Ind. (WXIN) — A new lawsuit filed by the ACLU of Indiana is challenging a recently enacted Indiana law that prohibits citizens from being within 25 feet of law enforcement officers.
The law, which went into effect on July 1, is called a violation of constitutional rights by the ACLU, which claims that citizens have a right to “observe and record the police.”
The right of citizens to observe and record the police is a critical check and balance.
Whether it’s a traffic stop, a police response to a mental health crisis, or other police-community interactions, community members cannot hold police officers accountable if they cannot observe what is going on.
Said Katie Blair, advocacy and public policy director at the ACLU of Indiana.
Under the new law (House Enrolled Act 1186), citizens must provide a 25-foot buffer to allow police to perform their duties if asked to stay back by officers. If a member of the public doesn’t comply after being asked to keep back, police can arrest the citizen and charge them with a Class C misdemeanor — which is punishable by up to 60 days in jail and a fine of up to $500.
While proponents of the law claim it keeps both citizens and police safe, critics claim the law gives “unbridled discretion” to police officers and allows for “viewpoint-based discrimination,” the ACLU said.
This gives police officers unchecked authority to prohibit citizens from approaching within 25 feet of the officers to observe their actions, even if the actions of the citizens are not and will not interfere with the police.
Said Ken Falk, legal director at the ACLU of Indiana.
The lawsuit was filed on behalf of a citizen journalist from South Bend who operates a YouTube channel called “Freedom 2 Film” where the plaintiff, Donald Nicodemus, monitors the activity of police officers by observing and filming their encounters with citizens.
According to the lawsuit, Nicodemus’s channel is meant to “expose inappropriate or problematic law enforcement behavior, shining a light on it will help to end the behavior.”
But the lawsuit claims Nicodemus is being kept from providing a proper “check and balance” of police by the new law which allows police to push him back from scenes with “unbridled discretion.”
According to the lawsuit, on July 20 Nicodemus was observing law enforcement activity in South Bend and kept being ordered by police, under threat of arrest, to move back 25 feet. Then to move back another 25 feet, as the officer “apparently interpreted” the law as allowing him to “repeatedly push back persons 25 feet at a time.”
The lawsuit claims Nicodemus “was not interfering in any way with the police investigation” yet kept being made to move back well beyond 25 feet, which nullified his ability to observe and report police officers.
The lawsuit argues that due to the law containing “no standards to constrain the officer’s ability” to enact the 25-foot buffer, police can push back citizens like Nicodemus unchecked, even if they are not interfering, and therefore strip the “accountability” that observing and recording officers provides.
The statute violates the First Amendment and is unconstitutional. Appropriate declaratory and injunctive relief should be issued.
The lawsuit states.
AUTHOR COMMENTARY
If thou seest the oppression of the poor, and violent perverting of judgment and justice in a province, marvel not at the matter: for he that is higher than the highest regardeth; and there be higher than they.
Ecclesiastes 5:8
For those that do not know, I live roughly 15-20 minutes away from South Bend, so this is basically my backyard. I’ve watched Freedom2Film’s channel before this lawsuit was presented, and many of the areas Mr. Nicodemus filmed I have been down before, and/or family lives near or has lived in.
For those that do not know, the crime rates in South Bend are ridiculous. I’ve read, according to some sources, that the ratio of shootings in this city are worse than that of Chicago’s!
Of course, as you may notice on the map, the University of Notre Dame resides in the city, and outside of their irony castle resides ghettos, crackheads, felons, murderers, rapists, and more. Look into this if you don’t believe me, but where ever there is the process of a major Roman Catholic and Jesuit parish and institution, all kinds of filth, decay, crime, and debauchery can be found.
SEE: The Roman Fort Of Conformity: How Societies Are Taken Over And Controlled
How God Uses Roman Catholicism To Judge And Enslave Unrighteous Nations
Freedom2Film records many of the shootings that occur on a daily basis in South Bend, and other areas, so you can watch some if you want to get the gist. Furthermore, I can confirm from what I know that the South Bend Police Department is insanely corrupt. There are some good eggs in there, I know them, but many are super shady and corrupted. Our current Police Chief is also a corrupted man, who openly has been caught pocketing $100,000 in DARE program funds, and openly supports drag shows for toddlers, among other things.
[7] Who goeth a warfare any time at his own charges? who planteth a vineyard, and eateth not of the fruit thereof? or who feedeth a flock, and eateth not of the milk of the flock? [8] Say I these things as a man? or saith not the law the same also? [9] For it is written in the law of Moses, Thou shalt not muzzle the mouth of the ox that treadeth out the corn. Doth God take care for oxen? [10] Or saith he it altogether for our sakes? For our sakes, no doubt, this is written: that he that ploweth should plow in hope; and that he that thresheth in hope should be partaker of his hope. (1 Corinthians 9:7-10).
The WinePress needs your support! If God has laid it on your heart to want to contribute, please prayerfully consider donating to this ministry. If you cannot gift a monetary donation, then please donate your fervent prayers to keep this ministry going! Thank you and may God bless you.
Brother,
I want to move to Indiana as my heritage is there among many, so I’ll take the warning about South Bend to heart.
What is Granger like? Where would you recommend to move to in the Hoosier state?
Playing God & meddling with the word, creating their idolatrous humanist new religion of men sets all up to fail, but then, that’s what devils like: tyranny, destruction and death.