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Appeals Court: Blind man arrested outside Michigan Capitol can sue police

Detroit Free Press - 2/27/2019

Feb. 27-- Feb. 27--LANSING -- A blind man arrested at an event on the Capitol lawn celebrating the anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act can continue his lawsuit against the Michigan State Police because his free speech rights may have been violated, a federal appeals court ruled Tuesday.

Joe Harcz, now 66, of Mt. Morris Township was arrested when he tried to cross a police barricade to enter the 2015 event, after police identified him as a protester they believed was intent on disrupting it.

Harcz, who organizers confirmed was a member of one of the committees that planned the celebration, was charged with resisting and obstructing police, a two-year felony. Minutes before his trial was scheduled to begin in 2016, Ingham County prosecutors dismissed the charge.

Harcz and six other demonstrators -- all but one with a disability -- sued in U.S. District Court in 2017, alleging their constitutional rights to free speech and equal protection were violated when they were barred from the event outside Michigan's seat of government.

Harcz also sued for false arrest, false imprisonment and malicious prosecution.

Defendants were nine Michigan State Police officers, the former Capitol facilities director, and two nonprofit organizations that helped organize the 25th anniversary ADA event -- the Michigan Association of Centers for Independent Living and the Capital Area Center for Independent Living.

A federal judge in Grand Rapids dismissed the suit last year, but on Tuesday the U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals revived significant parts of the case.

A three-judge panel ruled the plaintiffs' First Amendment claims against members of the Michigan State Police and the Capitol facilities director can continue, as can Harcz's claims related to his arrest.

"We're very grateful that the court found in our clients' favor," said Julie Porter, a Chicago-area attorney representing Harcz and the other plaintiffs. "This is a case that needs to proceed forward."

Though eager to celebrate the anniversary of the ADA -- the federal law that took effect in 1990 requiring public facilities to be made accessible to those with disabilities -- Harcz and the other plaintiffs were unhappy about sub-minimum wages some of the sponsors paid to workers with disabilities, as well as the choice of the Capitol as the venue, which they said is not fully ADA-compliant, the panel said in its summary of the case.

Interpreting the facts most favorably for the plaintiffs, as the court must do prior to the trial stage, "the complaint plausibly alleges that the state defendants, without a compelling justification, violated their First Amendment rights by blocking access to the event," the panel wrote.

"Accepting the complaint's allegations as true -- as we must -- the (plaintiffs) posed no threat of disruption before the police excluded them from the event."

Harcz said Tuesday he's pleased the case can continue, though he's disappointed the appeals court upheld dismissal of his claims that the sponsoring groups conspired with the state police to exclude him and other demonstrators.

"We were denied access to the property solely because of the content of our ideas, in violation of their own Capitol rules, which state that's the very place for picketing and leaflets," Harcz told the Free Press.

Judges on the panel were Circuit Judges Eugene Siler, Jr., Deborah Cook, and John Bush.

Contact Paul Egan at 517-372-8660 or pegan@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @paulegan4.

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