The Use of Reasonable Force in Arresting Protestors Engaged in Unlawful Protests

• The Use of Excessive Force and the Fourth Amendment
• Unlawful Public Protests and Law Enforcement’s Right to Use Reasonable Force

While individuals have the right to publicly protest, law enforcement has a right to arrest the protestors when they seek to prevent a duly installed government entity from performing its lawful functions.  The use of reasonable force in arresting protestors engaging in unlawful protests is constitutional

In July, 2018, Tasha Williamson and others participated in what was referred to as a “die-in” at a city council meeting in National City.  The purpose of this demonstration was to protest the death of one Earl McNeil; a black man who died while in police custody.  (See Note, below.)  The protestors in general disrupted the meeting by chanting from the audience.  Williamson and five others, however, took it a step further by moving up to the public speaker podium in front of the city council members where they laid down on the floor around the podium, showing their red-painted “bloody hands” while chanting; “I am Earl McNeil,” and, “You have blood on your hands.”  The protestors ignored the mayor’s call for order, so the council meeting was adjourned.  Meanwhile, National City police officers warned Williamson and the other protestors around the podium that they would be arrested if they didn’t back away.  (Getting arrested, of course, is exactly what they wanted.)  The six protestors around the podium all ignored the officers’ repeated requests to leave, acting as “dead weight” instead, refusing to cooperate with being physically removed.  The officers, therefore, pulled or carried them out, one by one.  National City Officers Lucky Nguyen and John McGough drew Williamson as the demonstrator they were responsible for removing.  Handcuffing her with her wrists behind her back, they brought her up to a ....