A Marietta woman says that she's filing a federal lawsuit against police after she was arrested for allegedly using profanity at officers. The woman says her First Amendment rights were violated by the arrest.
Amy Barnes, a member of the Occupy movement, says she flipped off police and cussed at them as she was on her bike on Austell Road near her Marietta home. Two Cobb Police officers had teenagers stopped outside a store as Barnes showed her displeasure from the moving bike.
Police followed and arrested her couple of blocks away.
"They told me I shouldn't be presenting a lewd gesture in front of children," said Barnes.
Police charged Barnes with disorderly conduct. She says she spent 23 hours in jail -- six in solitary confinement. The misdemeanor is still making its' way through the courts, but Barnes' attorney, Cynthia Counts, says police violated Barnes' constitutional rights.
"It's infringing speech; the government cannot just chase down a citizen and arrest them when they speak their mind," said Counts.
Cobb County Police had no comment on the pending lawsuit, but the spokesman did say that Barnes would not have been arrested had it been only the two police officers that heard and saw her vulgarities, adding that she was arrested because other people did too.
Barnes said case is an issue of Constitutional rights.
"I have a duty to ensure that, not just my rights, but everybody else's rights are honored under the First Amendment," said Barnes.
Counts says that she expects the courts to drop the disorderly conduct charge against Barnes which she says will pave the way further for the federal lawsuit.
Tuesday, June 18 2013 9:11 PM EDT2013-06-19 01:11:54 GMT
The Woodstock Police Department says a police K-9 died after being left in his handler's patrol car.Spartacus, a 3-year-old Belgian Malinois, was found dead in his handler's patrol car. Authorities later
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Tuesday, June 18 2013 7:11 PM EDT2013-06-18 23:11:21 GMT
Atlanta police have arrested two brothers for running what they say was a major fraud ring that caused small businesses across the country to lose more than $300,000.
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Tuesday, June 18 2013 6:22 PM EDT2013-06-18 22:22:48 GMT
Defense attorneys want the governor's report on Atlanta Public Schools cheating thrown out. They say educators were threatened to cooperate with investigators or lose their jobs.
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Tuesday, June 18 2013 8:34 PM EDT2013-06-19 00:34:07 GMT
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Tuesday, June 18 2013 4:55 PM EDT2013-06-18 20:55:38 GMT
A man accused of fatally shooting a gay man walking with a companion in New York City's Greenwich Village pleaded not guilty.
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Tuesday, June 18 2013 3:46 PM EDT2013-06-18 19:46:32 GMT
Photo courtesy of @N42_21_W71_04)
Riders should anticipate cancellations and delays on the Long Island Rail Road for the Tuesday evening rush. The railroad has canceled 21 trains that normally leave Penn Station between 3:27 and 7:01 p.m.
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Tuesday, June 18 2013 3:32 PM EDT2013-06-18 19:32:12 GMT
NYC
Nearly 3 million New Yorkers' homes are now in evacuation zones that cover more than a third of the city's population, under new maps released Tuesday.
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Tuesday, June 18 2013 3:05 PM EDT2013-06-18 19:05:09 GMT
Police are looking for a man who stabbed another man in Times Square Tuesday afternoon, authorities said.The victim was stabbed in the chest, the NYPD and FDNY said.
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Tuesday, June 18 2013 12:20 PM EDT2013-06-18 16:20:04 GMT
The director of the National Security Agency said Tuesday the government's sweeping surveillance programs have foiled some 50 terrorist plots worldwide, including one directed at the New York Stock Exchange.
The director of the National Security Agency said Tuesday the government's sweeping surveillance programs have foiled some 50 terrorist plots worldwide, including one directed at the New York Stock Exchange.
Amy Barnes says that she's filing a federal lawsuit against police after she was arrested for allegedly using profanity at officers.
