INDIANAPOLIS — The American Civil Liberties Union said it filed a lawsuit Tuesday on behalf of a citizen journalist, claiming Indiana’s new 25-foot “encroachment” law violated his constitutional right to observe and record the police.
The new law, which went into effect on July 1, prohibits a person from knowingly or intentionally approaching within 25 feet of a law enforcement officer after the officer has ordered the person to stop. It is a classified as a Class C misdemeanor.
The plaintiff, Donald Nicodemus, is a citizen journalist who lives in South Bend, Indiana, and monitors the activity of public-safety personnel, primarily the South Bend Police, according to the ACLU.
Nicodemus regularly posts videos on his YouTube channel Freedom 2 Film, which has more than 24,500 subscribers.
South Bend police have enforced the new law against Nicodemus to prevent him from getting close enough to observe and record their activities, the ACLU claims.
“The unbridled discretion given to law enforcement officers by the new 25-foot law allows for, and invites content and viewpoint-based discrimination,” said Ken Falk, legal director at the ACLU of Indiana. “This gives police officers unchecked authority to prohibit citizens from approaching within 25 feet of the officers to observe their actions, even if the actions of the citizens are not and will not interfere with the police.”
On July 20, Nicodemus was reportedly observing and recording an area of police activity, much further than 25 feet from the area, while live streaming the event to his YouTube channel.
"He was not interfering in any way with the police investigation," the ACLU said in a statement announcing the lawsuit.
The edited video reportedly recorded by Nicodemus seems to show an officer was stepping off what he allegedly indicated was 25 feet from the location where Nicodemus and the other observers were standing and told them that they had to move farther away from the police activity, according to the ACLU.
"At this point, Nicodemus was already unable to observe and record the scene," the ACLU claimed.
The ACLU claimed after approximately 12 minutes, another police officer reportedly approached Nicodemus and others who were gathered at the “25-foot” point and said that this was his crime scene, and that everyone had to move back another 25 feet.
The officer threatened those on the corner, including Nicodemus, would go to jail if they did not move back another 25 feet, stating there was a “new law," according to the ACLU.