Buffalo Man’s Free Speech Suit Revived Over Shouting at Police

The City of Buffalo, the police commissioner, and three officers must defend claims of false arrest, malicious prosecution, and First Amendment retaliation over the arrest of a man for “crudely shouting” at a policeman to turn his headlights on, the Second Circuit ruled.

The trial court erred, granting the defendants summary judgment, when it ruled that the shout wasn’t protected by the First Amendment, because plaintiff R. Anthony Rupp III didn’t know he was addressing a police officer, and that all of his claims are “barred by the existence of probable cause—or at least arguable probable cause sufficient to give ...