An Arizona mother who was handcuffed and dragged out of a city council meeting in front of her 10-year-old daughter last month is suing the city of Surprise and its mayor, alleging that her First Amendment rights were violated.
Rebecca Massey, 32, is an active participant in government meetings and has spoken out about zoning changes before. On Aug. 20, she complained about the city attorney's salary.
To her surprise, Mayor Skip Hall interrupted her a few minutes into her speech, accused her of “personally attacking the City Attorney,” told her that it was a violation of city policy to specifically criticize city staff or city council members, whether by name or not, and informed her that there was a memo to that effect on the back of the City Council agenda.
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Rebecca Massey, 32, is suing the city of Surprise, Mayor Skip Hall and a police officer, alleging that her First Amendment rights were violated. (Photo by Kristin Hillman)
“I could stand here and curse at you for the full three minutes, and that's speech protected by the Supreme Court,” Massie countered, as seen on video of the incident.
“You want me to get you out of here? Stop talking,” Hall told her.
Massey repeatedly argued that the policy was unconstitutional, and Hall responded by asking Surprise Police Officer Steven Shelnikoff to escort her out of the building. When Massey protested and asked the officers not to touch her, the officers handcuffed her and escorted her out of the room.
Massey's lawyer, Connor Fitzpatrick of the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE), said the woman was held for at least two hours and subjected to a “highly invasive physical examination” and fingerprinting — a torture that violated her Fourth Amendment rights, according to the lawsuit.
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Rebecca Massey had her arms around her back as Officer Steven Shelnikoff escorted her out of a Surprise City Council meeting. (Individual Rights and Expression Foundation)
Fitzpatrick said her daughter did not accompany her to police headquarters and she was not informed of her whereabouts throughout the incident.
She was also charged with trespassing, but the status of that charge is unclear.
“Public officials are elected to serve the public, not to silence them,” Fitzpatrick told Fox News Digital. “They may not agree with what the public says, and they're not required by law to do everything the public wants, but they have to listen.”
Originally founded to sue universities for suppressing students' First Amendment rights, FIRE has expanded to defend “mayors and commissioners who abuse their power to silence and punish people who show up to public meetings and say things they don't like,” Fitzpatrick said, adding that such cases “happen more often than they should.”
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Massey is suing the city of Surprise, Arizona, to overturn a policy that bars residents from criticizing public officials at city council meetings. (Photo by Kristin Hillman)
In Michigan, the coalition ousted former Eastpointe Mayor Monique Owens after she repeatedly shouted down constituents who criticized her during public comment periods. Ultimately, the Detroit suburb agreed to stop enforcing unconstitutional restrictions on citizens' free speech, passed a resolution apologizing to plaintiffs in lawsuits, paid more than $17,000 per plaintiff, and designated September 6th as “First Amendment Day” for the local area, according to FIRE and Washington DC reports. Detroit Free Press.
But when talking about Massey's case, Fitzpatrick said FIRE has “never seen anything on this scale.”
The lawsuit also names another Surprise resident, Quintus Schultzke, who regularly speaks at City Council meetings.
“This rule affects more than just Rebecca. People like Quintus who normally attend know what happened to Rebecca. They see this rule being enforced to cast a dark shadow. It makes people self-censor: 'I'm not going to a City Council meeting, I can walk out in handcuffs,'” Fitzpatrick told Fox News Digital.
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“We're showing the entire city of Surprise that the First Amendment needs to take precedence at city council meetings,” he continued. “The government can't have a rule that says, 'You have to give a compliment to be heard.' That's not what the First Amendment is.”
“All Americans should know they should be free to attend and be involved in their city council and school committee meetings,” Fitzpatrick said. “What happened to Rebecca is unacceptable, but the law is there to protect her, and so are all Americans who want to be involved and participate in government meetings — the First Amendment will protect them, too.”
Hall did not respond to a request for comment about the pending lawsuit, and Shelnikov did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
