Tennessee police raid home of man who filmed officer speeding

Clear Facts

• Joshua Gibbons filmed a Kingsport police SUV speeding at night without lights or sirens and posted the video online.
• Within hours, police obtained an arrest warrant and sent eight armed officers to raid his home before dawn.
• The Tennessee Court of Criminal Appeals overturned Gibbons’ disorderly conduct conviction, finding no evidence that his criticism prevented anyone from lawful activity.

Joshua Gibbons recorded a Kingsport Police Department SUV speeding without lights or sirens in October 2022. He followed the vehicle to a fast food drive-thru and briefly criticized the officer for the conduct.

The officer ignored the criticism at the time and continued his shift. The department took no immediate action against the officer or Gibbons.

“They tried to intimidate me, but I’m not backing down,” Gibbons said in a statement. “I can’t let this injustice stand, because my family doesn’t feel safe anymore. There’s no coming back from that raid on our home. They sent eight heavily armed officers to arrest me because I embarrassed them.”

A citizen later complained about the officer’s behavior. The department searched Gibbons’ YouTube channel and found the video of their own officer speeding.

Instead of disciplining the officer, police obtained an arrest warrant for Gibbons within two hours of viewing the video. The warrant charged him with speeding, using a cell phone while driving, and disorderly conduct.

“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.

Eight armed officers raided Gibbons’ home just before dawn the next day. Security footage captured the arrest in front of his elderly mother and young daughter.

“The First Amendment protects the right not only to criticize and film police, but also to post it online. The police department didn’t treat this as a crime until Joshua posted this online and embarrassed the department,” Steinbaugh said.

A judge acquitted Gibbons of the speeding and cell phone charges but convicted him of disorderly conduct. A jury later upheld the conviction on appeal.

The Tennessee Court of Criminal Appeals unanimously overturned the verdict in June. The court found no evidence that Gibbons’ criticism prevented anyone from lawful activity.

“The court said Gibbons ‘did not threaten anyone, did not engage in any violent behavior, and did not create a physically offensive or hazardous condition.’ The court noted that even ‘profane and insulting’ words alone will not rise to the level of a crime, particularly when uttered against the police, who ‘are trained to exercise a higher degree of restraint than the average citizen.'”

“If you are a law enforcement officer, you are required by your uniform and by the First Amendment to tolerate criticism. Some of that’s going to be fair criticism, some of it’s going to be unfair criticism. But you don’t get to go and arrest people for it. That’s the message we want to send to this department and to departments around the country,” Steinbaugh said.

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