City settles suit for claiming canned ice tea is threat
A lawsuit filed by a man arrested for carrying canned ice tea and bug spray during a city’s “state of emergency” has been settled, the Rutherford Institute said Wednesday.
Disabled war veteran John Miska was arrested when Charlottesville, Virginia, officials were on alert because of the potential of violence on the one-year anniversary of the racially charged August 2017 protests.
The city claimed his purchase of canned ice tea, bug spray, light bulbs and razor blades in a mall drug store violated a pre-emptive “state of emergency” lockdown.
“This case – in which government officials spent more than $3 million on security only to have a dozen police swarm a disabled veteran with a walker buying cans of iced tea and bug spray – is a classic example of government overkill,” said Rutherford constitutional attorney John W. Whitehead.
“We hope more city officials will be proactive in recognizing the need to exercise common sense in their efforts to maintain the peace and protect lawful, nonviolent First Amendment activities,” he said.
Rutherford described the outcome as a victory “for common sense and the rights of citizens to not have their lawful First Amendment activity chilled by egregious, excessive government security protocols.”
The city had decided to prevent any “civil unrest” so it adopted bans on a number of items, including canned ice tea and bug spray.
Illustrating how illogical the move was, however, Rutherford explained the veteran “was permitted to open carry two firearms through a downtown mall security checkpoint.”
As a result of the settlement, the city is changing the law to prohibit only items such bottles and metal cans “from being used as weapons.”
“The original ban broadly prohibited such innocuous items as metal food and beverage containers, aerosol sprays, glass bottles, skateboards, masks and hoods,” Rutherford said.
Under “an emergency declaration by Gov. Northam, local, state and federal law enforcement agencies locked down portions of the small college town, deployed 700 police officers – many in riot gear — to patrol portions of the downtown area, restricted the free movement of persons on public streets, and imposed a broad ban on innocuous items such as metal food and beverage containers, aerosol sprays, glass bottles, skateboards, masks and hoods at a cost of several million dollars.”
Miska, using a walker, was able to carry his firearms through security, but he was arrested after purchasing “two cases of canned Arizona Iced Tea, a package of razor blades and bug spray.”
He was charged, but the counts were thrown out a short time later.
The August 2017 protests and counter-protests were over a city decision to remove a Confederate statue from a public park.
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