Seattle police violated Christian pastor's constitutional rights by arresting him for 'his own safety,' judge rules
Matthew Meinecke was arrested several times by Seattle Police while peacefully preaching the Bible at left-wing protests.
A Christian pastor has won a settlement against the City of Seattle over a series of wrongful arrests in the summer of 2022, which a federal judge ruled violated his First Amendment rights.
Matthew Meinecke was arrested several times by Seattle Police while preaching the Bible at left-wing protests, where he was a frequent target of violence from activists, including members of Antifa. Instead of arresting the individuals who launched brutal attacks on the street preacher, SPD officers decided to arrest Meinecke for “his own safety” when he showed up to these events.
US District Court Judge Barbara J. Rothstein of the Western District of Washington ruled that the Seattle Police Department violated Meinecke’s constitutional rights by unlawfully arresting him.
The city has agreed to pay Meinecke $35,000 in compensatory damages, along with $80,000 for attorney’s fees.
Judge Rothstein signed a consent order on Sept. 9 that permanently blocks the city and police from using a local obstruction-of-police ordinance of Meinecke “in public parks, streets, or other traditional public fora based on real or anticipated hostile reaction of an audience.”
The complaint, filed in March 2023, stated that Meinecke was the subject of physical violence at several protests, where demonstrators would rip up his Bible, punch him to the ground, and steal his personal belongings.
When Seattle police arrived at the scene, the street preacher “was initially grateful for the police presence,” believing that officers were there to help him, the complaint stated.
“However, the police officers did not offer to help Meinecke. While Meinecke was still on the ground, grimacing from the attack, police officers ordered Meinecke to leave the area,” according to the complaint.
Police ordered Meinecke to move to an area where he could preach safely. The pastor refused and police arrested him.
Meinecke’s first arrest occurred while he was preaching at a violent pro-abortion march on June 24, 2022, following the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade.
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His second arrest happened two days later at the annual Seattle PrideFest. Meinecke was surrounded by attendees while peacefully preaching at a public park when offers moved in to arrest him without warning. Again, claiming it was for the pastor’s “own safety.”
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Meinecke was charged with obstructing a police officer in accordance with the Seattle Municipal Code. According to the legal complaint, the city contended that a police officer has the authority to compel a speaker to leave a public forum if the speech provokes a hostile response and “poses a risk of injury.”
The complaint said that Seattle’s actions amounted to an unconstitutional heckler’s veto, which gives “those who oppose speech … the power to censor it by simply being hostile toward it.”
The city denied they were prohibiting his free speech rights and said Meinecke’s “extensive effort to construe this case as a vendetta to silence him is inconsistent with the facts.”
A federal judge struck down Meinecke’s request for a preliminary injunction in June 2023, but the decision was reversed in April upon an appeal.
“The restrictions on his speech were content-based heckler’s vetoes, where officers curbed his speech once the audience’s hostile reaction manifested,” the US Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals said. “Meinecke established irreparable harm because a loss of First Amendment freedoms constitutes an irreparable injury, and the balance of the equities and public interest favors Meinecke.”
The parties agreed in the settlement that a permanent injunction would be issued against the city.
The government should never silence the speech of a citizen just because an audience dislikes what it’s hearing,” Meinecke’s attorney Nate Kellum told the Epoch Times. “Pastor Meinecke is thrilled to put this case behind him and get back to sharing the gospel on the streets of Seattle.”