Winter Park sued for protest ban

A lawsuit against the city of Winter Park, City Commission, police chief and four commissioners has city staff meeting to discuss how to defend itself in court on Dec. 4.

The suit is the latest flare up in a firestorm about free speech versus public safety that began in response to an Aug. 18 anti-abortion protest, which led to an ordinance passed on Sept. 24 prohibiting protesting in residential areas of the city.

Commissioner Steven Leary denounced the protest scene, involving alleged yelling by protestors carrying signs depicting aborted fetuses, as a “crude form of harassment.” The Commission voted 4-1 to pass it, with Mayor Ken Bradley dissenting.

A group of anti-abortion protestors, including Winnifred Bell, Allura Lightfoot and Deanna Waller, filed suit with the city on Oct. 16 over what they call an unconstitutional ordinance. A district judge denied the group’s request for a restraining order, which would have let protestors back onto the streets without fear of arrest.

“This was a peaceful protest,” Lightfoot, who was involved in the protest, said at the Sept. 24 Commission meeting. “We were singing, praying and holding pictures….”

Residents said the protest appeared far more threatening and disruptive, depicting graphic imagery. Detractors of the ordinance said that although it was well meaning, it would lead to an inevitable lawsuit.

The suit was filed on behalf of the three plaintiffs by Frederick Nelson of the American Liberties Institute in Altamonte Springs, a law firm that’s gained fame for freedom of speech cases involving Christian activists. Attempts to contact the firm for comment before press time were unsuccessful.

In the suit, Nelson wrote that the plaintiffs seek to “share their religious, political, and social speech with people in the City.” The lawsuit does not mention the objectionable aspects of the protest at the home of Planned Parenthood of Greater Orlando CEO Jenna Tosh that had rankled residents.

The lawsuit specifically names Commissioners Carolyn Cooper, Steven Leary, Tom McMacken and Sarah Sprinkel as defendants, as well as Winter Park Police Chief Brett Railey. Absent from the suit is Bradley, although the suit does name the Commission as a whole.

City Attorney Larry Brown said he’d be working to keep any city officials named in the suit from being held individually liable should the city lose, though how the case will proceed has yet to be seen.

The city has until Nov. 7 to respond to the charges in the legal complaint, which is set to go before a judge on Dec. 4.

“I think a lot of how the case is going to go would be seen by how the judge receives everything in the oral argument on the fourth,” Brown said.