Arizona mom sues town of Surprise over arrest after questioning city attorney's salary before city council

An Arizona mom has filed a lawsuit against the city of Surprise after she was arrested for questioning the city attorney's salary during a city council meeting in August. She alleges the city violated her First and Fourth Amendment rights, per the complaint.

Rebekah Massie, 32, a frequent vocal community participant in city council meetings, complained about the city attorney's salary before the council on Aug. 20. Massie, who had attended the meeting with her 10-year-old daughter, then found herself handcuffed and taken into custody, Fox News reported.

Conor Fitzpatrick, Massie's attorney with the Foundation of Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE), said his client was fingerprinted and given a "pretty invasive patdown" when she was detained for at least two hours. He said the matter violated her Fourth Amendment rights.

The incident occurred after Surprise Mayor Skip Hall abruptly cut off Massie during her three minutes of allotted time behind the podium. He accused Massie of violating policy by "attacking the city personally." Massie fired back at Mayor Hall: "I could get up here and I could swear at you for three straight minutes, and it is protected speech by the Supreme Court."

The mom's remarks were met with a warning from the mayor: "Do you want to be escorted out of here? You've got to stop talking."

When Massie insisted once more that the policy was unlawful, Surprise Police Officer Steven Shernicoff was called by Hall to escort her from the premises. Massie resisted, imploring the officer not to touch her, so he removed her from the room and handcuffed her. Massie was charged with trespassing.

"Public officials are elected to serve the public, not silence them," Fitzpatrick told Fox News. "They might disagree with what the public has to say, there's nothing in the law that says that they have to do whatever the public asks of them, but they do have to listen."

In addition to representing cases against "mayors and chairs abusing their powers to silence and punish people who go to public meetings and say things they don't like," Fitzpatrick said that FIRE has expanded beyond its original mission of bringing legal action against colleges and universities that violate students' First Amendment rights. He added that these incidents are "more common than they should be."

Also named in the lawsuit is Quintus Schulzke, another Surprise resident who frequently speaks out at council meetings.

"The rule here affects people beyond Rebekah - people like Quintus who usually participate, they saw what happened to Rebekah. They see this rule that is being enforced to cast a pall... It leads people to self-censor, to say, 'I'm not going to a city counsel meeting, I could leave in handcuffs," Fitzpatrick said. 

"We're showing the entire community of Surpise that the First Amendment needs to prevail at city council," he continued. "A government cannot have a rule that says 'in order to be heard, you must come to us with praise.' That is not what the First Amendment is."

"Every American should know that they should feel free to go to their city council meetings and school board meetings and become involved. What happened to Rebekah isn't ok, but the law is there to have her back," he said. "Every American that wants to get involved and participate in their government meetings, the First Amendment, will have their back, too."