Posted on 10/09/2010 6:26:51 AM PDT by marktwain
The Milwaukee woman who wore her gun to services at a Brookfield church in July has sued the city and four officers involved in her arrest, the latest in a growing number of court challenges by Wisconsin gun rights advocates.
Krysta Sutterfield had not created any disturbance at the Unitarian Universalist Church but was stopped as she was driving away, detained at gunpoint, searched, arrested, booked and released. Police recommended a citation for unlawfully transporting her gun in the car, but Waukesha District Attorney Brad Schimel declined to issue any charges.
The lawsuit, filed Thursday in Milwaukee federal court, contends that police infringed several of Sutterfield's constitutional rights, such as being free from unreasonable searches and to keep and bear arms.
It seeks unspecified damages plus court orders that Brookfield police not detain other lawful gun carriers and remove all records of Sutterfield's arrest from their files, and a declaration that openly carrying a gun, "without more, is not a criminal act."
"Our goal here is to obtain damages for Krysta, for her unlawful arrest and the harm she suffered," said Nik Clark, president of Wisconsin Carry Inc., "but also to show that police can't just arrest people at gunpoint for doing something within the law."
Wisconsin Carry Inc., a group that advocates for gun rights, joins Sutterfield as a plaintiff in the suit. Both are represented by John Monroe, a Georgia attorney who specializes in gun rights cases. Monroe represents the group and some other members in pending federal cases over police response to members wearing guns at a Madison Culver's last month, and challenging the state ban on firearms within 1,000 feet of school zones.
Clark said Wisconsin Carry has collected thousands of dollars in donations to fund its lawsuits. While the group supports the open carry of guns, which is legal, it also believes Wisconsin should allow law-abiding residents to carry concealed weapons. Wisconsin and Illinois are the only two states that do not permit any concealed carry. Proponents expect such a law will pass in Wisconsin soon. Gov. Jim Doyle twice vetoed prior bills to allow concealed carry.
Monroe also represents open carry activist Jesus Gonzalez in a civil rights case over his arrests at large retail stores in West Milwaukee and Chilton in 2008 and 2009. Wisconsin Carry Inc. is not a plaintiff in that case.
Gonzalez, meanwhile, is charged with first degree intentional homicide for a May shooting in which one man was killed and another paralyzed.
Sutterfield, 41, declined to comment Thursday, and a spokesman with Brookfield police said no one authorized to speak on behalf of the department or the city would be available until Friday.
Sutterfield had worn her 9mm handgun in a visible holster at the Unitarian Universalist Church West, 13001 W. North Ave. She never took it out or did anything threatening.
Still, the congregation president said she was concerned.
"I didn't feel comfortable asking her why she was wearing the gun," Caryl Sewel said in July. "Truthfully, we found it very intimidating," especially in light of the 2005 shootings at a church service at a Brookfield hotel that left eight people dead, and a 2008 shooting at a Unitarian church in Tennessee that killed two people.
After the service, a church staff member called Brookfield police on a non-emergency line to ask about the legality of Sutterfield wearing the gun, and several squad cars responded.
Previously posted but needs a GOOD BUMP. Thanks.
Guns at church have many times saved lives. In one case saved perhaps thousands of innocent lives.
I close to an absolutist on 2nd Amendment rights, but I kind of draw the line at Unitarians carrying firearms.
A gun carrying Unitarian ?
“A gun carrying Unitarian?”
You got me thinking, now....
I went to a Unitarian funeral once.
I couldn’t tell who the bereaved were, who died, who the minister was or exactly when the service began or ended.
Why not, indeed. The Unitarians are nothing if not diverse and all-inclusive.
That’s hilarious! (And accurate).
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