In 2022, photojournalist Benjamin Hendren captured some photos of police arresting a group of protesters. Although Hendren did not interfere with police activity—he even offered to let police speak to his editor—the police arrested him. What’s more, they even encouraged the protested construction site employees to make up remarks about Hendren.
Hendren has now filed a lawsuit against the officer who arrested him, saying he was punished for exercising his First Amendment rights.
On July 29, 2022, Hendren heard over the police radio that police had arrived at a protest at the Atlanta Public Safety Training Center (also known as “Police City”) construction site. Hendren is a freelance writer for The New York Times atlanta constitutionwas hired specifically to cover Police City and related protests.
When Hendren arrived at the scene, he began taking photos on the public sidewalk across the street where Georgia State University police arrested a group of protesters who allegedly broke into a construction site.
“At no time did Hendren commit any crime or do anything that could be mistaken for a crime by police,” the lawsuit states. “Furthermore, Hendren did not interfere in any way with an ongoing traffic stop.”
However, officers still stopped Hendren and handcuffed him. They “forced themselves to take photos of Hendren as he sat handcuffed on the side of the road,” the lawsuit states. The police even “grabbed him by the hair and pulled his head up so that he could be photographed against his will”.
But the police didn’t just illegally detain Hendren. The lawsuit alleges that they encouraged two employees of Brasfield & Gorrie, a construction company that worked at Police City, to make false statements about Hendren, who eventually claimed Hendren “committed a criminal offense at a construction site.” Hendren’s lawsuit also names Brasfield & Gorrie employees as defendants.
One of the officers even wrote a report afterward saying Hendren was handcuffed because employees “identified him as a protester at the construction site.” But Hendren was detained before employees could see him, the lawsuit says. Hendren was eventually released after more than seven hours in custody.
Hendren’s lawsuit claims the officers clearly and egregiously violated his First Amendment rights. Courts have consistently held that individuals have the right to film police activity as long as they do not interfere directly.
“Plaintiff has the right under the First Amendment to photograph and videotape police officers in the performance of their official duties in public places without interference from police officers,” the lawsuit states. “The interference with Plaintiff’s photographing and arrest was a result of his being a public police officer. Photography of an event was triggered by protected activity and was done in retaliation and therefore violated the First Amendment.”
