A federal judge ruled on Monday, October 6, that police in Ferguson cannot
enforce a so-called ‘five-second rule’ requiring protesters to keep moving or
face arrest. This all started after a
tense weekend of demonstrations in mid-August, where Missouri Highway Patrol Captain Ron Johnson informed protesters that
they were now required to be in constant movement and weren’t allowed to
congregate in large groups.
Reporters and protestors both claimed
that the police were arbitrarily enforcing a five-second rule, in which they are not allowed to stand still for more than five
seconds.
In her ruling Monday, District Judge
Catherine Perry said that this police tactic was a clear violation of the
protesters’ First Amendment rights and that local police needed to
immediately cease enforcing the rule. Perry also stated
that police officers violated due process rights of protesters by arbitrarily
enforcing rules and having the “unfettered discretion” to do so. She also stated that the law enforcement has the ability to enforce legitimate laws, as
long as they weren’t violating the constitutional rights of people to gather
peacefully and protest. Therefore, they are allowed to enforce Missouri’s
failure to disperse law, which is a low-grade misdemeanor. She pointed out that
the law can only be enforced in a situation of a riot or an unlawful assembly
and a person refuses to obey a command to leave the scene at that time.
While this was going on, both Johnson and St. Louis
County Police Chief Jon Belmar claimed that they were unaware of the
‘five-second rule.’
After reading this article and hearing about on the news, it really disturbed me that the police would even enforce a five-second rule. It reminds me of something you would tell children to do. It was an immature and unfathomable way of dealing with the protestors. I'm so glad the judge rules that the police did violate the first amendment rights of Ferguson protestors. What also got to me too was how Johnson denied it even happening and how he was "unaware" of it.
Link to article:
Excellent very recent example of a First Amendment case.
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