Resident sues Iowa city after being arrested twice for ‘derogatory statements’

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A resident of Newton, Iowa – the county seat of Jasper County, 30 miles east of Des Moines – sued the city, its mayor, and its police chief after he was arrested twice for making “derogatory statements” at city council meetings. 

Key Players

Noah Peterson is a resident of Newton. He was arrested twice on the mayor’s order for speaking out against the police department during the public comment period at city council meetings.

Tayvin Galanakis was 19 years old when a video of his wrongful arrest by Newton’s police department received more than two million views on YouTube. The police body camera footage did not substantiate the drunk driving charges against Galanakis, which led to a separate civil lawsuit against the city.

Michael Hansen is the mayor of Newton, serving his second term since first being elected in 2013. 

Rob Burdess is the police chief of Newton, a position he has held since 2015. He is also the president of the Iowa Police Chiefs Association.

Further Details

On Aug. 28, 2022, Galanakis was arrested by Newton police officers for driving under the influence, despite registering a blood-alcohol level of zero on a Breathalyzer test. After also testing negative for drugs at the police station that night, he was released.

A week later, Galanakis uploaded the body-camera footage of his arrest to YouTube, adding in his description that the police officer who arrested him, Nathan Winters, “has a no contact order involving domestic abuse in 2021 after beating his ex girlfriend” and that Burdess allowed Winters to keep his job despite the order.

Two days later, Peterson attended a city council meeting, during which he called for defunding the Newton police department and accused it of being “a violent, civil and human rights–violating organization.” After Peterson refused to stop speaking, Hansen threatened to have him arrested.

On Oct. 3, Peterson attended a second council meeting, where he accused the police department and city of being “pro-domestic abuse, because they are currently employing a domestic abuser and choosing to not release the records about that domestic abuser.”

Although his allotted time was not up, Peterson was told to stop speaking. When he refused, Hansen had him removed from the meeting for violating the council’s rule against using “derogatory statements or comments about any individual.” Peterson was arrested, jailed, and charged with disorderly conduct and disruption of a lawful assembly. 

In a statement, Peterson indicated that he planned to return to the next meeting and that he would sue the city. “What’s the First Amendment for if not criticizing the government? I think the government can handle three minutes of criticism,” he said.

Peterson attended a third council meeting on Oct. 24, bringing a prepared statement in which he accused the mayor and chief of police of being “the top two fascists in this town” and called for their removal from office. After he refused to sit down, the meeting was suspended. Hansen and Peterson argued, and Peterson was again arrested for disorderly conduct.

On Feb. 1, 2023, an Iowa state court judge, 5th District Magistrate Peter Lahn, found Peterson not guilty of his first charge of disorderly conduct, saying that the First Amendment protected his right to speak at a city council meeting. Several weeks later, the city dropped the second charge.

On March 20, the city modified its language policy for council meetings, removing the prohibition of “derogatory statements” or “comments about any individual” and adding that “elected officials and city staff will not answer questions or debate a citizen” during the public comment portion of the meeting.

Outcome 

Peterson files civil lawsuit

On Oct. 12, 2023, Peterson filed a federal lawsuit against Newton, Hansen, and Burdess, seeking to hold them accountable for the “deprivation of his rights” under the First, Fourth, and Fourteenth Amendments.

The lawsuit alleges that “using their authorities under color of state law, the Individual Defendants subjected Noah to the deprivation of his First Amendment rights by retaliating against him for exercising those rights,” and that the grounds of his arrest were unwarranted and unconstitutional.

Brian Morris, an attorney with the Institute for Justice, a conservative nonprofit law firm representing Peterson, justified the lawsuit: “The right to criticize the government is a central pillar of our Constitution,” Morris said. “By ordering their opponents arrested, Newton’s officials behaved like petty dictators in a banana republic, rather than democratically-elected leaders in a constitutional republic.”

Peterson added, “Ironically, the actions of the police department have only proven my point, my initial criticism was about the way they treat citizens in our community. They arrested me for exercising my right to free speech—for standing up for what I believe is right.”

As of Nov. 2, there were no further updates.