I'm engaged in freedom of speech freedom of religion and freedom of assembly at the steps of City Hall which is a traditional public forum does someone have a First Amendment right to stand on the steps of City Hall in Little Rock Arkansas holding a sign that says God bless our homeless vets these two cops who are clearly constitutional Scholars don't think so y do yall want them off the property so they they do want you off the property I apologize that they haven't let you well regardless of whether I'm homeless I still have the right to I got you I'm not I'm not I'm not saying that that's the Reas without you answering that due to the sign that I'm looking at it's homeless okay you're utilizing your amendments what you're doing though also at the same time is Laing no no no soliciting is different when you're out here begging for money yes it is it's something different are you disagreeing with the courts about that I'm not sure what what I'm telling you is I know you want an argument that's what you're here your goal is here listen to what I'm saying you cannot be on government property and this is state government begging for money it's one thing to stand here and just talk freedom of speech but it's another when you're holding a sign saying you're a homeless vet even have a VA card to prove you're a veteran sir are you are you falsifying that information are you a veteran what branch okay I was too what what was your MOS okay cuz you probably weren't I seriously doubt you were keep pointing your finger at me sir I'm going to take it as a threat you're really not going to believe this infuriating footage from Jeff Gray which side here is actually ignorant of the law let's go through this footage because it's outrageous and then I'll answer that question I'll try explaining it tell you but you don't want to listen you're fuing [Music] ignorant many of you have discovered that it can be nearly impossible to find a civil rights lawyer although I get calls from all around the country every day I'm only one person and I only take specific types of cases and only in West Virginia the good news is is that if you need a lawyer because you've been injured you can hire America's largest injury Law Firm no matter what state you're in Morgan and Morgan has over 1,000 attorneys in all 50 states because they're the biggest they have the ability not to settle for lowball offers last year in Florida they got a victim who was in life altering car crash $12.2 million the insurance only offered them 350 Grand they got another victim in New York $6.8 million the insurance only offered the victim 275 Grand best part their service is free unless you win it only takes a few minutes to see if you have a case you can submit a claim and communicate with your legal Team all from your smartphone if you've been seriously injured it will only take a couple of minutes to start a claim with Morgan and Morgan at forthepeople.com thee civil rights lawyer found in the description below is there anything that's more pure protected First Amendment speech than standing in some traditional public forum such as the steps of a city hall and holding a sign that says God bless our homeless vets it's an expression of both political speech and religious speech I mean it doesn't take a const stitutional scholar to understand that but for some crazy reason police officers and government employees from across the country can't seem to understand that this is Jeff Gray I've done videos on him before he does exactly that at places like the steps of City Halls in cities and small towns across the country it was only a couple of years ago that Jeff Gray had filed a lawsuit supported by the First Amendment advocacy group fire against the city of Alpharetta Georgia to set that lawsuit the city had to pay Jeff $55,000 and agree to other terms such as providing training to police officers there on what the First Amendment means recently Jeff went to Little Rock Arkansas and he held his sign there with his cameras rolling on the front steps of the city hall and this may be one of the most egregious incidents that I've ever seen filmed by Jeff like he always does Jeff is just standing there not impeding any sort of traffic not causing any disturbances he's just being polite holding his sign and when people walk by at most he says God bless the homeless fets that's the point he's causing no problems whatsoever he's engaging in absolutely protected First Amendment activity but like moths to a flame these people they flip out when he does this and the reason that they flip out I think has everything to do with just the nature of his sign it's this ratty cardboard sign that he carries around it absolutely triggers them because it looks like he's panhandling and that's sort of the whole point because even though the federal courts have ruled many times that panhandling is actually a protected form of speech under the First Amendment so what he's doing not only captures the political and religious expressions of God bless the homeless fats but it also does so in such a way as to cause these people to assume that he's soliciting charitable donations and in almost every case these people don't understand that even if he were doing so that is specifically protected First Amendment speech but just the nature of the sign causes them to completely go off the rails it always starts with somebody from City Hall calling the cops then the cops show up and that's exactly what happened here and the first officer to show up was officer Jackson of the Little Rock Police Department and here's how that went what's going on man much how you doing sir how you doing brother I'm officer jackon with L Rock Police Department I've been advised that security has asked you to leave and and you won't what what's the deal here they haven't asked me to leave they just said they're not sure if I could do this or not and that's exactly right as I mentioned before ever standing there with a sign Jeff sets up cameras because because these government tyrants what they always will do is lie so the employees that call the police they'll make allegations that he's causing some sort of disturbance or he's scaring people or whatever then the cops who talk to him will say he said something that he didn't say and so he films everything and so here's the actual reality of what happened with the interaction with the city hall security guard prior to officer Jackson's arrival which is basically nothing yes sir you got to take it across the street uh no sir I'm going to go ahead and stay right here for about 4 you do that right here yep I'm going to go ahead and do it right here till till I'm done and I'll be on my way you can't do it right here I disagree with you why can't I do it can you tell me why I can't do it right here why would you call the police on somebody saying God bless our homeless veterans sir sir why would you do that can't you just leave me alone why are you guys calling the cops on a man standing on steps of City Hall saying God bless the help veterans why is that why would you do something like that why can't you just can't you just leave me alone I can stand over there but I can't stand at the steps City Hall and do this okay um y' do y'all want them off the property so they they do want you off the property I apologize that they haven't let you let you know that so well let me me me explain something to you first okay brother what I'm doing is I'm engaged in freedom of speech freedom of religion and freedom of assembly at the steps of City Hall which is a traditional public hor if they trespass me off of this property for the for engaging in my civil rights you're going to be held liable and they're going to be held liable and the city's going to be help out I got you so I encourage you I'm being quiet yeah no we're on good terms brother I encourage you to contact the City attorney contact the mayor contact the da contact your supervisor and let them know before you trespass me off I got you well listen to me let's step over here that way if somebody comes over here stand right here okay well listen to me um I get you're you got God bless on there you're a veteran is that right okay but are you homeless I I don't answer questions like that okay well regardless of whether homeless I still have the right to spe I got you I'm not I'm not I'm not saying that that's the re without you answering that due to the sign that I'm looking at it's homeless okay so at that point I get you're you're utilizing your amendments okay we'll just keep it that simple pleas with with that being said what you're doing though also at the same time is lering okay it's not the principle that they are being biased against you being religious hard hear you're good it's not the fact that you're a veteran or that you're uh pushing your religion it's the fact that you're lering right on the front steps of City Hall so you can simply just step on the the public sidewalk and it be that simple yeah uh steps City Hall is a traditional public home okay well what what's your what's your name I'd rather not give my [Music] name I told you it was Jeff Jeff yeah Jeff I get that what's your last name I'd rather not give my last name all right well listen you're want me to contact all these people and all that stuff so I am conducting an investigation so therefore or I don't want you to catch a petty charge for obstruction it's not I'm I'm engaging free speech I got you and I'm doing my job before you put me in Coast like I said contact the City attorney or some like that cuz I put you on notice I'm engaging activity are you going to give me your last name and date of birth or not what what would happen if I don't obstruction now this should come as no surprise to you if you've watched many of my videos many police officers are indeed not constitutional Scholars instead many times they are taught that if they have any interaction with an individual at all that they then have to get that individual's information for their police report of course or whatever but what if the individual does not want to give their information what if the individual wants to just walk away is that individual being detained because under the Constitution if you care about the Constitution if you respect constitutional rights all constitutional rights the fourth amendment is an important one and the Fourth Amendment provides that if a police officer is going to detain somebody against their will that is a seizure under the Fourth Amendment which prohibits unreasonable searches and seizures for such a seizure to be reasonable the federal courts have said that a police officer must have a reasonable articulable suspicion that some crime has occurred now here there can be no doubt that what we have video of Jeff doing standing there with a sign that says God bless the homeless fets is in fact not a crime and is actually a protected First Amendment activity as such the police officer has no Reasonable Suspicion to forcibly detain Jeff against his will and to obtain his personal information against his will but of course people like this there's no convincing them at the scene the only thing you can really do is catch it on video which fortunately was done here what does that mean it's you're you're you're either impairing or hindering or prolonging my investigation you want me to contact City attorney and all this I need to know who I'm speaking to I'm not just going to call all the these people and be like hey Jeff is wanting this and this to happen when I've already given you a rundown of what needs to happen I I'll give my ID under threat of arrest but otherwise I'm not give my ID you're what's your last name I'd rather not give my last name okay if you're going to put me in cuss and arrest me I'll give you my ID I got you why why are you making this so complicated man I I'm not making it complicated no you are you are and the security is making you guys have the option of just leaving me alone allowing me exercise my speet traits I understand that but at the same time my hands are tied if as an establishment yes it's the city hall but you are lering on their property are you I am not lering I am peacefully assembling on the property okay well that's constitutional protected activity I don't think you're going to go anywhere give me one second okay who's uh who y's high up to he he's not asking for money or anything so it is kind of a complicated deal M um it does just say God bless and the veterans and the homeless so I mean granted he he's stating he's just a sibling peacefully there so I mean I had a reason why I called because I had in coming in feeling uncomfortable with him standing Happ there and my job is to protect them with everything at home yeah no I I get it um are these doors locked we we doing Mr Mr Larry the mayor security none of the mayor staff is here so I'm the super mhm SEC okay yeah I mean it'd be one thing if he was pan handling or something like that but I mean well can you can you ask him not to stand in front of the building I don't care where he stand yeah I I've attempted to do that and he he just sat on his ways and to an extent knows his rights and the law which is good um I mean it was one thing I read the sign you know um because with the little information that I had obviously I walk up and pretty reasonable to assume loitering but then I start noticing the sign it doesn't he not asking for money nothing like that just standing there I can understand where it's reasonably seen as a suspicious or a nuisance in a sense but he's not disturbing the piece he's not again he's not panhandling um you you know I can uh I can do an information report but I mean even then I mean I'm kind of kind of limited I'm going to run it by another senior officer real fast but um I could be wrong but just from what I gathered with him that might be where we just lead to is just kind of limited and he is wrong the first amendment protects the rights of speakers to engage engage in public expressive activity including solicitation of money as I.E panhandling without being compelled to identify themselves to government authorities that's the Watchtower bible and tract case from the US Supreme Court in 2002 so the First Amendment also protects the right to refrain from speaking just as it protects the right to speak the compulsory identification of a speaker requires at a minimum sufficient cause according to the US Supreme Court in the Buckley case from 1999 therefore if a police officer were to forcibly require Jeff to identify himself in order to continue to speak that would violate his clearly established First Amendment rights according to the US Supreme Court but as I told you if you were expecting these police officers in Little Rock Arkansas to have any basic awareness of constitutional rights you're going to be very disappointed in everything else that you see in this video so here is the Second Officer arriving this this is Officer Morris with the Little Rock Police Department and she is absolutely something else good morning hey good morning God bless on um so has the other officer man contact with you yet or is he inside yes he's inside okay has he talked to you yet he he has he said he's going to go in there and discuss with them okay well I'm going to tell you right government property you won't be able to solicit you'd have to go over somewhere on a sidewalk you wouldn't be able to do it on the property officer Morris officer Morris Morris yes m o r r i s like I explain to the other officer what's his name uh that's Jackson Jackson officer Jackson officer Morris I'm engage a constitution effed activity on a traditional public forum and if you guys trespass me or make me leave we'll be held liable and well so I don't know if you're begging for money cuz you're putting on there that you're homeless so and that's usually what the the homeless people do you you still can't beg on public that's not the point if you're soliciting out here to get money cuz you're homeless then you would have to go to the sidewalk and do that I am soliciting this free speech no know soliciting is different when you're out here begging for money yes it is it's something different are you disagreeing with the courts about that I'm not sure what what I'm telling you is I know you want an argument that's what you're here your goal is here listen to what I'm saying you cannot be on government property and this is state government begging for money you can go to a sidewalk because a judge granted you can stand on a sidewalk and beg because that is public property and you can do that there I disagree with you you're incorrect well no I'm not but no no I'm not just I'm going to talk to her for a minute so be quiet for a second please uh I'm talking to the mayor's Chief security he said with him standing here he have to go down on the side that's what I'm explaining you're blocking the entrance standing here begging go to the sidewalk sir all you got to do is go to the sidewalk and I don't know why I don't know why that's what they're saying the mayor's saying this go to the sidewalk you can you can either go to the sidewalk sir if you're out here sisting for money or we're going to take you for Laing for the purpose of begging yes cuz you're Lord on this property you know what a lot of these first amendment videos get wrong is the fact that the government does have the ability to restrict free speech and it has a lot to do with where this is occurring and that's why Jeff keeps mentioning that this is a traditional public forum and what he means is there are different categories of locations under First Amendment case law that provide different levels of Rights basically under the First Amendment depending on where you are you don't NE have the same rights inside a police department as outside on the sidewalk in front of a police department so some places are more public than others in some places are more restricted than others for various reasons in some places are more traditionally public forums where people go to communicate these political Expressions that they have so why is Jeff on these City Hall steps well now this is the same city hall sidewalk steps in Little Rock Arkansas where for years there have been political demonstrations and protests here are just a few of those is too damn high is too damn high is too damn we got roaches we got where you at we got roaches we got enfor where you United will never be defeated the people and we'll have a larger conversation again we've met with you all before and so we'll make sure we sit down and make sure that we go through this line by line and identify ways that we can be help and they're planning on continuing protesting I know you guys said you might have another protest tonight um as this continues to evolve this situation and we learn more and we see more and we have more to show you we will of course continue to do that but for now I'm live in Little Rock I think the main thing is that all these Citizens need to know that they pay our salary We Exist because they allow us to exist so there's no questions of limits so if if they want to stop and talk to us they should have that right they should be able to talk to us or drive down the street without feeling that they can't do so you know freely and the protesters said after chief Humphrey left they felt so much more hope about change coming because of the answers that he gave them now so those are just two examples one a protest regarding rent being too high and in that particular one they were sort of welcomed into the building and then the the city's Chief of Staff you know addressed them and secondly during the George Floyd protest across the country they were camped out there on those Courthouse steps protesting with signs basically for days on in and then you have the chief of police of the Little Rock Police Department going on the scene there and and speaking with these people did you see him forcibly iding any of them or arguing with them or being rude to them no he was being respectful of them and of their constitutional rights boy it's a good thing that he did not send officer Jackson or officer Morris to go deal with that situation if the concern is that they were impeding traffic into City Hall I mean compare what you just saw with what Jeff was doing good morning sir God bless our homeless veterans and please pray for our homeless vets have a blessed day did I block him from walking he was impeding no traffic nobody that walked in the building had any problem getting around Jeff he wasn't causing anybody any problems I'm telling you now I'm telling you now don't Point your finger at me don't do that you're not in charge of me or anything out here I that's fine sir that's fine call your lawyer right now that's fine I'm telling you right now if they want you off the property you have to leave B standing unless you that's what we'll probably end up doing and if you don't want to listen they're saying you can go and stand on the sidewalk right here on the front but you're not listening you don't want to do that and you will still serve your purpose on the front of the sidewalk standing with your homeless sign stand have every right to do no not on government property you don't sir you can't stand here and beg for money and solicit people that walk up for money you don't do you have a permit to do that to run that business to solicit for money here okay thank you I didn't think you did um I got hurt information so we're good with goe and call olden real quick and let him know but that's here's the thing it's one thing to stand here and just talk freedom of speech but it's another when you're holding a sign saying you're a homeless vet do you even have a VA card to prove you're a veteran sir are you are you falsifying that information did I say I ask you I'm asking you because I'm it says God bless the homeless vets but I'm asking you are a veteran are you a veteran what branch okay I was too what was your MOS okay cuz you probably weren't I seriously doubt you were Jeff is in fact a veteran not that it's any of her business that's not what you said earlier you were doing you you already you already said that you were out here possibly asking for money keep pointing your finger at me sir and I'm going to take it as a threat negative negative you keep pointing at me turn around nobody's talking to you right now turn around nobody's talking to you um so when I when I so when I first made contact with him I just want you to know we have a white male that's standing here at the City Hall holding a sign he's refusing leave he says a sovereign citizen it's his right freedom of speech stand here initially he said he was soliciting money now he's not soliciting money he's just here to Grant Goodwill to the homeless veterans God bless our homeless veterans but he's refusing to leave so I'm about to be arrested can't know the assistant chief Mayors or whatever they call them they want them off the property and he also let me know he was going to sue me so I mean it's already attempt to influence anyway so also okay well I'm going to go in there and talk to them real quick and I'll be back out probably you'll probably end up having to you know [Music] bless okay I ref ironically even though Jeff is not impeding the foot traffic into City Hall at all these two cops with nothing better to do are in fact impeding traffic into the front doors of City Hall take a look so even with him he was you go ahead go ahead that's is go ahead go ahead thank you so initially real fast real fast I got to get this off um I didn't me to blow up your phone I called you twice but obviously you see why so anyway even with I'm want with him saying he's peacefully assembling mhm doing that on City Hall he's going to have to get a you have to get a permit if it's 11 people or more to assemble oh 11 people okay so and here's the thing is if they want him he's now saying his freedom of speech when I initi she started I was like they talk to you and he's like yeah and I said what are you doing out here begging for money I was like you got to sign and uh he was like um it's my right to stand here and I was like I said you can't solicit here I said you can stand on the sidewalk and do that the judge said that but you can't stand here is that what happened I'm not sure why this woman repeatedly tells the lie not that it makes a difference constitutionally but she repeatedly tells the lie that Jeff was asking for money but it was all recorded on multiple cameras here is the view of her initial interaction just to just so we're all on the same page of what Jeff said to her what's your name officer Morris officer Morris Morris yes okay my name is Jeff r r i s like I explained to the other officer what's his name uh that's Jackson Jackson officer Jackson officer Morris I'm engaged in Constitution protected activity on a traditional public forum and if you guys trespass me or make me leave you'll be held eliable and you w well so I don't know if you're begging for money cuz you're putting on there that you're homeless so and that's usually what the the even if I was homeless and I you still can't speech that's not the point if you're soliciting out here to get money cuz you're homeless then you would have to go to the side soliciting I am soliciting it's free speech no no no soliciting is different when you're out here begging for money yes it is something different are you disagreeing with the courts about that I'm not trying but what I'm telling you is I know you want an argument that's what you're he your goal is listen to what I'm saying you cannot be on government property and this is state government begging for money you can go to a sidewalk because a judge granted you can stand on a sidewalk and because that is public property and you can do that there we're probably going to end up taking him in jail for Criminal Trespass and he also let me know he was going to sue me for my job weing him for attempt to influence as well so um cuz he wants to he wants to I love these folks that want to make a big deal about I know my and he's like I said are you better and he's like yes so what branch he said AR man so which room was know your business so he probably doesn't even know what that is and he probably doesn't even have a card but his sign says God bless the homeless veteran so outs to listen to [Music] him go ahead did he happen to ask you anything when you were walking out H did he happen to bother you or anything when no he's just saying God bless that not bugging anybody but I know yeah has he been that's what we're here for but that was just curious morning morning XR I don't know they've got cameras that record and it's got audio too so all I've got to do is ask them to pull it back you see this camera right here see my camera right here it's been recording the whole time I never asked for money I never asked for money I'm soliciting Goodwill and compassion for home best that's what he said I'm saying I wasn't here I'm telling you what he said I was not here when the conversation happened when you guys had contact I'm just stating what he said but my other thing was are you falsely impersonating that you're a veteran are you falsely impersonating that you're a veteran cuz that's really offensive if you are and you never served in the military I asked you if you were in the military you said yes the Army well I'm just asking because we have folks that say they're in the military and they beg and they do other stuff and they're really not and it's an embarrassment to people who serve who deser who don't deserve that I don't the office off asking what I'm asking you to leave he's asking leave them and being trespassed you're not being banned from the property you're being told to get off the property due to your what you're doing due to what I'm doing getting fre speech okay and if I don't leave the property what's going to happen you'll get charged with criminal trespass I'm out of here but this is disra this is freedom of speech freedom of religion and freedom of assembly on a traditional public form I have every right to be here people fight and die for the right to do this you guys are disgusting shame on you thank [Music] so they trespass him off the property and as he turns to walk away and he's walking away officer Morris then directs officer Jackson basically to go track him back down and get his information forcibly and that's what he does of course yeah okay yeah he's leaving leaving so we'll St my make sure he's completely gone right now good I still never got his information besides Jeff did you let him know if he comes back he's going let him know s said let him know um yeah I got to I'm going to drive down there then just Beed that um you do understand that you are not allowed back on the property that's what that's what they're wanting now so well I do have to get your information for trespass that's a that's a that's a civil thing man no it's not I've left the property the crime only occurs if I refuse to leave or if if I come back Comm listen to me listen to me you didn't commit a crime but listen you just said what I was about to say if you come back right you just admitted that how is an officer or the establishment going to be able to know who you are if they don't have no information the only way you can get ID is if there's a crime toing committed you suspect me no that that's false I'm I'm now conducting an investigation go go on my way unless being detained yes you are being detained okay I'm done playing with you okay you're making this you are and you just spit on me I'm trying I didn't mean to spit on I got you well act right let me step away then let me step away what's your last name if I don't give you my last name I'll be arrested yes gray huh g r a y gray Jeff Gray what's your date of birth phone number I'm not giving my phone number address that's in St Augustine what St Augustine Florida what St Augustine St Augustine yes sir so now you're detaining me to get my my driver's license which is an illegal detainment because I have you don't suspect me of committing a crying I complied with the trespass am I free to go now I just told you why I'm getting information yes you're good to go without I tried explaining it to you but you don't want to listen you're [ __ ] ignorant good Lord he just walking I made contact with him when he was still on the sidewalk so here's the thing let me Shut these up real quick okay well let's go over who's ignorant so Arkansas is in the eighth circuit so other than Supreme Court case law e8th circuit federal case law applies and it just so happens there was a case in 2019 from the eth circuit Rogers versus Bryant where two guys challenged the Arkansas anti-loitering law that banned them from begging in a manner that was harassing causes alarm or impedes traffic so there's this law in Arkansas where a person commits the offense of loitering if he lingers or remains on a sidewalk roadway or public ride of way in a public parking lot or public transportation vehicle or facility or on private property for the purpose of asking for anything as Charity or a gift in a a harassing or threatening manner b in a way likely to cause alarm to the other person or C under circumstances that create a traffic Hazard or impediment so basically what these officers were trying to enforce here that was examined by the 8th circuit in 2019 these two guys they want to go to public areas hold signs and speak the court said the fact that they intend to ask for money does not mean that their speech is unprotected to the contrary asking for charity or gifts whether on the street or door Todo is protected First Amendment speech and there we have it the e8th circuit citing the US Supreme Court and here's what the Court held on this specific law that these officers are trying to actually enforce here Arkansas's anti-loitering law is a content-based restriction because it regulates speech based on the topic discussed or the idea or message expressed it applies only to those asking for charity or gifts not those who are for example soliciting votes seeking signatures for a petition or selling something or complaining about rents too high or complaining about police misconduct in other words its application depends on the communicative content of the speech because that law targets only a subset of speech that meets these criteria specifically asking for charity or gift panhandling it is a content-based restriction so under strict scrutiny Arkansas's anti-loitering law can survive only if it's narrowly tailored to further a compelling interest in that case Arkansas offered no justification for its decision to single out panhandlers from other types of solicitation the anti-loitering law is under inclusive and consequently not narrowly tailored so I don't know if there's some other Arkansas law here that these two officers thought that they were enforcing but I believe this was it and it has already been ruled unconstitutional by the eth circuit I know unbelievable and even if it were not unconstitutional it's Jeff's conduct still didn't fall within that statute because he wasn't harassing anybody he wasn't impeding any traffic at all this was just pure First Amendment violation so like he's done elsewhere I really hope that Jeff Gray sues here and gets a settlement from Little Rock and also an order requiring mandatory training for all of these officers on the First Amendment because they obviously are completely ignorant so thanks for watching please subscribe both here and at the blog at the Civil Rights lawyer.com I'll link the original video and other information in the first pin comment below remember our rights don't in where your fear begins freedom is scary deal with it [Music]