Free speech, freedom of assembly, and freedom of religion all won big in a Pastor’s recent victory over unlawful arrest.
Seattle street preacher, Matthew Meinecke, was forcibly removed by police at a pro-abortion protest, and PRIDEFest rally in 2022.
Meinecke was unlawfully arrested twice on “obstruction” charges, after refusing to stop reading the Bible in public at the two closely related events.
A 22-page, 9th Circuit court ruling recount gave the complete rundown.
In sum, “attendees at both events abused and physically assaulted Meinecke.”
Instead of arresting Antifa and the LGBTQ+ self-identifiers involved, Seattle police detained the pastor.
First arrest:
During the unplanned, pro-abortion “Dobb’s” SCOTUS protest “one protestor seized Meinecke’s Bible.”
“After pulling a replacement Bible from his bag, another protestor grabbed hold of—and ripped pages from—the new Bible.”
Video also shows the bible being kicked around on the ground. Police, the ruling said, “categorised” some as Antifa.
“They encroached upon Meinecke, who had taken hold of an orange-and-white traffic sawhorse.”
Then “five protestors – some clad in all black and wearing body armour -picked up Meinecke, and the sawhorse, moved him across the street, and dropped him on the pavement.”
This was observed by a police officer, who said Antifa members attacked Meinecke.
The pastor, “undeterred walked back to his original location, resumed reading and held up a sign.”
At this point, more people approached Meinecke, “knocked him down, and took one of his shoes.”
Police then “intervened,” the ruling explained.
“Although the officers acknowledged that the protestors had assaulted Meinecke, they took no action against the perpetrators.”
After being arrested to cheers from Meinecke’s attackers, the pastor was held for 2-hours; released only after the pro-abortion protest had ended.
Second arrest:
During the PRIDEFest rally, located at a public park, Meinecke again peacefully engaged in reading the Bible in public.
Noticing his presence, LGBTQ+ members began “dancing near him, holding up a flag to keep people from seeing him,” and making “loud noises so he could not be heard.”
Some, Meinecke testified, howled, and barked like dogs, mocking him, as he read.
The pastor said, he “didn’t engage with them,” and “kept reading the bible out loud.”
Two hours later “more PrideFest attendees gathered around Meinecke and began yelling.”
Ten police officers moved on the scene, and requested Meinecke move. He declined.
Reacting to this, a “PrideFest attendee shouted at the officers, demanding his removal.”
After refusing a second time to move, “officers told Meinecke “that he was posing a risk to public safety,” and they again demanded he leave the park.”
Telling police he was in no danger, officers arrested the pastor, detained him, and this time charged him.
Released on bail, Meinecke was told by the city at his hearing that they wouldn’t be pursuing the charges, and instead threatened him, stating that they “could bring up charges for this incident at a later time.”
Slamming their actions, the court said, Seattle authorities clearly knew the threat to public safety was posed by the protestors, not the Pastor.
“The City on appeal acknowledges that the restrictions were the direct result of ‘assaults on [Meinecke]’ and the “threat to public safety” posed by the protestors.
“Those threats did not come from Meinecke, and there is no evidence of any protester being arrested for ‘physical altercations and threats of violent behaviour.’”
This, the ruling said, “includes those who seized and ripped his Bible, poured water on him, took his shoes, and physically carried him across the street.”
First Liberty, the Legal advocacy group representing Pastor Meinecke, said, “the court concluded that the city’s policy amounts to an unconstitutional heckler’s veto.”
Meinecke’s First Amendment right to free speech was suppressed by “officers [who] curbed his speech once the audience’s hostile reaction manifested.”
Writing about the case, Post-Millennial justice reporter, Katie Daviscourt, added, “The city has agreed to pay Meinecke $35,000 in compensatory damages, including $80,000 in attorney’s fees.”
Further arrests.
The Pastor is no stranger to fighting against the Left’s double standards exemplified in two-tier policing.
He was accosted in August of 2023 in the street after a man stole his $700 speaker, because, the man said, “he hated Meinecke.”
In May this year, Meinecke was arrested again, after being harassed by Antifa, and Pro-HAMAS protestors.
He told journalist, Jonathon Choe, that police detained him on “criminal trespass, second degree.”
This was during a “Grace Camp” sit-in protest at the University of Washington, where Meinecke was “trying to prove the hypocrisy of faculty.”
“Faculty harboured,” he said, “an environment of hate, and antisemitism, that allowed people to intimidate, harass, and injure with violence.”
“They created an environment where they weren’t enforcing the law; which created an environment where violence could thrive.”
Pro-HAMAS protestors damaged his tent, and threw food and beer into it.
“I was constantly harassed,” Meinecke explained to University officials.
They would take signs, vandalise them, and steal from him.
From prison, Meinecke said, no one involved in the violent anti-Israel activist camp, has “been charged, for vandalism or violence.”
Yet, here’s “one white Christian street preacher in a lean-to, proclaiming that these people need to apologise, and now I’m the problem.”
