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Posted on 10/02/2026 9:55:48 AM PDT by Vendome
The case sat largely out of view for years while a criminal conviction hung over the man who filmed the encounter. Now that his conviction is overturned, the retaliation claims are finally getting a public airing.
Kingsport police in Tennessee sent eight armed officers to raid a man’s home in a pre-dawn operation after he filmed and criticized one of their officers for speeding, according to a First Amendment lawsuit now being made public. The man, Joshua Gibbons, says the raid was retaliation for embarrassing police, and his conviction has already been thrown out by a Tennessee appeals court.
The civil lawsuit against the city of Kingsport, its police chief, and its officers was filed in 2023 by the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE) on Gibbons’ behalf. He is only now publicizing the complaint, after the Tennessee Court of Criminal Appeals overturned his conviction and dismissed the remaining charge against him.
When he caught up with the officer, the officer did the right thing. He ignored Joshua Gibbons, didn’t arrest him, didn’t view it as a crime, and went and got his hamburger,” FIRE senior attorney Adam Steinbaugh told Fox News Digital.
What happened next is the core of the dispute. The lawsuit alleges that police responded not by ignoring the encounter, as the officer initially had, but by sending eight heavily armed officers to Gibbons’ home in a pre-dawn raid to arrest him.
(Excerpt) Read more at msn.com ...
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WTF?
The situation escalated after Gibbons put the footage online. Gibbons frequently records police activity and publishes the videos, and FIRE contends the department began scrutinizing his YouTube account after another person complained about separate footage in which an officer appeared to give Gibbons the middle finger.
According to the lawsuit, police soon turned their attention to the earlier driving video. Authorities secured a warrant accusing Gibbons of disorderly conduct as well as traffic violations related to his own driving while recording. FIRE says the warrant was obtained through a court clerk rather than presented to a judge.
Last I checked disorderly conduct and traffic violations are misdemeanors and can’t result in house raid to serve a warrant. Similarly the police aren’t allowed to ticket for such things unless they are eyewitnesses.
Pretty open and shut retaliation case.
Bump for later
These cops need to be taught a lesson. I’m not sure if that lesson will be found in a courtroom.
They are also not allowed to unlawfully obtain a warrant through a clerk.
Any award should be paid out of the police pension fund.
You mean he chased after a speeding cop? And captured this on film and caught with him. How fast did he go then??
You mean he chased after a speeding cop? And captured this on film and caught with him. How fast did he go then??
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