on July 19th 2021 a YouTuber and auditor named Mr Jeff arrived at Port Wentworth Town Hall he was not there for business as usual instead he peacefully displayed a sign that read God bless homeless veterans after completing His official duties inside Mr Jeff went outside to continue holding his message apparently his presence Disturbed city employees so the situation was reported to the police who arrived on the scene interacted with Mr Jeff and the incident was recorded by a body camera he's a restaurant he told him yeah you could go upstairs but he didn't go he just went on out the door and now he's kind of hanging out front all right I'll ask him to so just sweetly ask him to just float along yes ma'am I'll take care of that for you I love serving multi-purpose roles just let you know we also reset the AC to 72 upstairs so be cool for you guys for the good thank you yeah but he just stand out with every all right let's see what's going [Music] on what's going on brother he how you doing man all right doing okay yes all right um what's your first name Sergeant H yeah oh my name first name Jeff Jeff Jeff yes sir all right Jeff hey man um first I appr appreciate I appreciate the sign that's awesome hard of hearing so can you speak up yes sir so I appreciate the sign that's pretty awesome um the uh the ladies in front have asked me if you go find another location to hang out I not doing anything wrong you're not breaking any laws by any means okay they just right here in front of the city hall is a little bit different area you know what I'm saying for city property um city property yeah okay but I mean you can go legitimately you can go at the corner on this side of the grass you can go anywhere along side of the road yes just this is city property they were asking if you don't mind just find another location uh you're not break any laws you're not any trouble yeah I'd rather not just hang out here well that's kind of the issue they don't they don't want us you sitting out here so cuz it's city property so they can ask you to leave if they want you to but you said I'm not breaking any laws or anything well no but they're also the own city owns the property so they can ask you just to hang out somewhere else I'd rather okay all right sounds good give mhm he [Music] 413 [Applause] 4133 we're holding with a 71 in front of the city H uh combative we can start me a p13 all right so technically he's not breaking property so we can ask him to leave um and that's what I told him I said you're not break any laws but ladies don't feel comfortable with you stand out here I said you're welcome to go stand over in the corner down there down there down there so now if he doesn't leave it's trespassing okay well hopefully he will just go well he's like I don't I don't feel like leaving I was like well I get that but i' rather not feel like it is that what he said he does really he'd rather not he was polite about it and I said well you're not breaking laws but you're own own city property said it's owned by the city if they want they don't feel comfortable with you standing out here even though you're spreading a good message you have to leave the property he can't stand in front of my Cort like well I mean we can't if it wasn't but but considering a city property is considered private property so he can go stand on the roadside anywhere else so I got Patrol you and come in that way I can talk to some more see and and then I got to come see you so I'm not trying to give you a hard time dude so is there a reason why you want to stand here sergeant heminger of the Port Wentworth Police Department approached Mr Jeff to inquire about the situation in the recorded encounter Sergeant heminger appeared to acknowledge Mr Jeff's lawful behavior however only the employees pressured Mr Jeff to leave because they felt uncomfortable the employees argued that this was city property giving them the authority to fire him fortunately the First Amendment protected Mr Jeff's right to freedom of speech and assembly public property generally allows the expression of views as long as it is legal sergeant heminger appar ly unsure of the law himself returned to the building to ask for backup and cast out on the legitimacy of the employees complaints God put it in my heart to stand right here and spread the message God bless H I'm all I'm all for that I'm all for you recording I got no issue with that okay all right I got my body cam on I don't even know what that's for probably so get across the intersection anyways so what I did was I called for a patrol unit cuz I'm actually working for the code enforcement section okay I still place off officer this is city property okay you do have the right to spread your message anywhere you want unless it's private property then they have the right to ask you to leave they can't tell you tell your sign up or anything like that but that's the whole point of why I was out here talking to the Ladi didn't feel comfortable somebody just hanging out front C all okay um and being that's on city property they have the right to ask you to leave you can go stand on that corner you can go stand anywhere it's not actual city property and do as you wish brother and spread the message so that's that's all I'm saying okay now if you refuse to leave then it would be trespassing and then you'll be in trouble so I'm asking you nicely if just to relocates that's all I'm asking you to do you can go spread that message with love any way you want other than city property right here is that you understand what I'm saying this is city property this all this is City Hall this is city property all right it might be a trespass as of now you are give me your ID now now now it's an investigation I want your ID believe no give me your ID and not for you to go now because now you want to play the game go give me your identification you're trespassing me L leave give me need identification or you're going to jail give me my give me my identification so I can identify you and I can trespass you then you can leave I'm not going to ask you a third time if I get arrested I'll go to I'll lose my job I'm not trying to arrest you I'm trying to get you to comply with me and you're trying to refuse to do that so listen to me carefully I want your identification so I can identify you and trespass you supect me of Sir what crime do you suspect me of despite repeated confirmations of Mr Jeff's innocence Sergeant heminger resorted to scare tactics he threatened Mr Jeff with a trespass violation if he did not leave the situation became even more baffling when Sergeant heminger mistakenly classified public property as private property public property by definition encompasses all areas managed by city government units in essence Mr Jeff was legally exercising his rights and the trespass charges were unfounded however Sergeant heminger seemed determined to escalate the situation he repeatedly misquoted the legislation in an attempt to restrict Mr Jeff's rights the situation reached a turning point when Sergeant heminger threatened Mr Jeff with a trespass violation based on a misapplication of Georgia Code section this statute criminalizes malicious trespass on private property since Mr Jeff was both on public property and acting lawfully any arrest would have been a clear violation of his rights you're you're failing to to follow a lawful order which is they've asked you to leave city property or asked me to ask you to leave you're refusing to do so now I'm going to trespass you from the property because I asked you three times nicely to step off else no now you wanted to refuse so now I'm going to identify you and I can trespass you if I don't give you my ID I'll go to jail that's exactly correct you'll be arrested you'll be fingerprinted release all I want is your identification no because you not because of the sign but because you failed to comply with my investigation which was I asked you to leave nicely initially you wanted to play the game with me now I'm playing the game with you let me have your ident stop have your identification identification I'm not going to say handcuff turn around I'm engaging consti turn around let me see your sign put your phone in your pocket all you have to do is give me your ID Bud why why so hard with that you you know the game because you want to say am I being trespassed you could have gave me your ID I would have trespassed you let you walk off brother yeah you you're telling me to leave I would rather not leave no you're playing the game with me is what you're doing if you're trespassing me I'll leave I asked you to leave before before that you wanted to play the game and make me trespass you don't play dumb games man it's going to get you in trouble don't turn it why you stop put your phone I'm putting it in your you just stopped the recording and that's it's all recorded right here it's all recorded right here I'm saving your battery take my phone and start recording again sure gladly if that's what you want me to do brother I will do that for you thank you there you go put shirt pocket right here I'm going to put it in this pocket it won't fall out cuz it's an iPhone I don't want to break it dude I don't have the money to replace your phone you see how this easy this would have been here officer here's my ID now I probably would have trespassed you cuz I asked you at least five to six times to step off the property you said politely that you didn't want to do that I didn't have a problem with that Sergeant heminger actions were a clear violation of Mr Jeff's constitutional rights his dismissal of Mr Jeff's efforts as a game reveals a worrying attitude among some law enforcement officials furthermore Sergeant heminger unlawful demand for identification and threat of arrest for non-compliance constituted a further violation I went back and asked the ladies I said what do you feel comfortable with they said no I don't feel comfortable I'm standing out here because there's a bunch of ladies that working here even though you're not being violent they have the right to ask you to leave partner all you had to do is go step off to the next land property over there and you could spread the message with love all day you understand what I'm saying I W trying to bust your chops man I'm just doing my job I'm going to remain silent in this morning okay you have that right you have that right the only thing you have to answer is name date of birth and about your current address is all that current on your license yes it is okay all right all right hang t for a second Mr Jeff was arrested for simply exercising his rights Sergeant heminger then returned inside to brief the employees and was apparently satisfied with the outcome this not only violated Mr Jeff's First Amendment right to free speech but also his Fourth Amendment right to be free from unreasonable searches and seizures the arrest qualifies as a seizure under the law which constitutes a clear violation I'm going to grab your sence we take that with you okay you had to take him on in huh yeah he's under arrest um I asked him four more times I said listen you're not breaking the law essentially by standing out with a sign I said but ladies don't feel comfortable with you being on on the property because it's just a bunch of ladies even though you're not being disorderly I said they have the right to ask you to leave it is City Hall property all you have to do is go to the next Corner over here out on towards the road as long as you're not the roadway go anywhere else and I'll let you walk off so he wanted he's like he started playing the game well am I being trespassed I was like you know what let me have your idea and then he refused to give it to me so now it was being charged with uh obstruction so yeah he's like well I'll just leave now I like no no no we're P that point now we're playing the game see there gave you a chance mhm so I'm going to take his sign everything with him he's going to end up getting released but I'm going to have him banned from the property from City Hall okay yes ma'am that's all I'm doing they on public property saying God bless the homeless veterans right but they asked you just to go stay another Corner man it's just cuz there's a bunch of ladies up here that's all it was and then you tried to play the game with me right you don't understand half people be talking to her events I mean we care about it but but we also have rules you can't just do what you want and then when I asked you to leave and you said well being trespassed I said well not yet but I'm trying to help you just walk off and he said want to be in trespass I said okay now we're going to play the game and then you refused to give me your ID that was a big problem now you're under rest obstruction can one of yall put them in the car follow this officer over here I asked him like six times I said look you're not you're not really breaking the law I said other than the fact that the ladies don't want you to sitting here in front of City Hall you can spread the love anywhere you want to sure just go stand on that corner down there anywhere else I said so I need you to leave dude cuz they don't feel comfortable with you being up here property and he'd be fine yeah so after like six times of that I was like yo uh he says I said W you know what I said you going to leave he's like am I being Tres like now we're playing the game okay let me have your ID he refused three times to give it to me done so it would have been very easy I'm going to put this in uh Florida Florida I didn't check it I'm run on my tablet just come over here change my damn direct depos dude [ __ ] 27 years right here in the Marine Corps eight years active duty all we want you to do is just do the right thing man just do you know we all have rules that's it 10951 m right guys all right man it out good all right leave he wanted his phone stay recording but now he's under arrest so we I mean all of our [ __ ] is going so he can he can do a open record request I left it while the before he was under arrest yeah that's fine so all right this his sign whatever else he's got and if I first started talking to him he's being cool man I was like yeah I appreciate the message it's all good said listen to me though I said the ladies in the office just don't feel comfortable with some of you standing out here I said they just want you to go stand you know on the other piece of property where was he at l in the doorway well away from it but like by the pillars I said I mean that's in the doorway well yeah and she said well and it came in use the bathroom I was like okay D no problem that let use his bathroom but he walked out okay and just came around here with a sign so all right you want to I'm going to go to for help process and all I was going to say B I got to go down therez my my in the truck well then you want to transport in well I don't need to tie three people two people up for one person's do I'll give you a pair of cuffs I got like five sets that's fine just give them back to me you only got one set of Cu I'm going to put this in here get his property stubborn people do oh you know basically oh I'm good brother I got a pair but thank you you want to cry about it I'll give you a set hole C all right help H me out please if you don't mind sir no problem what I get paid to do right how was trying I was trying to not go this route I was trying really hard to be nice and but look just you can go stand across the corner brother and do what you want I do my best to get all I I I try my best to give all veterans as much room as I could possibly give even if he wasn't he wasn't being rude at first and I said look dude I said the reason they're asking you to leave is cuz you're standing out here in front of City Hall even with a great message there's a bunch of ladies up guy the motorcycle I took his ID but I put it back in the mailbox he left so oh anyways I'll uh I'll grab a case number and I'll come to the office no problem youday thanks man thank y'all appreciate [Applause] it 413 1095 when turn over to 440 for transport he'll advis mild in just a minute I'll be clear status three can I have a case number 45 hold on a second sir go ahead come up here to change the thermostat and dag um drop off my direct deposit and as I pull up there's a guy walking up with a sign and apparently he came into you while I was upstairs he come and ask to use the bathroom and um he had like a homeless veteran sign but he wasn't like pandering or asking for money just holding the sign so he comes in use the bathroom and then walks directly back out don't use the bathroom and then comes back around the stands in front of City Hall just showing the sign normally not breaking any laws the ladies up here didn't feel comfortable with him just standing up here so they were asking me to ask him to leave and I'm like all right cool it's city property no problem and uh he wasn't up here doing any business or anything like that and so I go start talking to him and U he's playing the game and after asking him four or five times to leave and he gave me his first name and then he says well I'm I being trespassed says look man you're not breaking the law I said but the ladies don't want you up here so essentially if you don't want to leave I can trespass you and then make you leave the property and uh so then I asked him for his identification cuz it kept going he started playing the game started recording the recording the interaction trying to draw it out I told him goad and give me your ID and I asked for it several times he wouldn't do it so I arrested him for obstruction so I'm on my way to 400 Mr Jeff's peaceful advocacy resulted in an arrest and nearly 2 years of legal repercussions the obstruction charge was eventually dropped with the help of pro bono legal assistance the foundation for individual rights and expression has since filed a civil rights law suit against Sergeant heminger seeking damages for the violation of Mr Jeff's rights perhaps most surprisingly Sergeant heminger was promoted to Lieutenant despite this incident