Sarah HonoskyAsheville Citizen Times
ASHEVILLE - A local news outlet and two of its reporters have filed a federal lawsuit against the city over the journalists' Christmas night arrests three years ago.
Matilda Bliss and Veronica Coit, both reporters with the Asheville Blade, a leftist news co-op, were arrested in December 2021 as Asheville police cleared Aston Park of sanctuary camping demonstrations. Reporters Bliss and Coit video recorded police officers as they dismantled tents and asked protesters to vacate the park after its 10 p.m. closing.
The lawsuit alleges that even though Bliss and Coit identified themselves to APD officers as journalists, and did not interfere with police's clearing of the park, they were "illegally arrested" for trespassing, and officers held Bliss' phone for nearly a month without a warrant.
The complaint was filed by the Asheville Blade, and reporters Bliss and Coit, on Dec. 23 in U.S. District Court for the Western District of North Carolina in Asheville. It names the city, Asheville Police Chief Mike Lamb and 12 APD officers, some no longer with the department, as defendants in the suit.
Lamb was named the department's permanent police chief in February, after two months serving as interim.
The multi-day protests at the downtown park, which culminated in the Christmas night arrests of Bliss, Coit and four others, also resulted in indictments of 16 people on charges of felony littering, mutual aid workers among them. All pending felony littering cases were dismissed in September.
Bliss and Coit were found guilty of misdemeanor second-degree trespass by a Superior Court jury after a weeklong trial in June 2023 and garnered international attention from organizations that advocate for press freedom issues.
They were also found guilty of the same trespassing charges in April 2023 after a bench trial in Buncombe County District Court. They are now appealing their case to the N.C. Court of Appeals, the second highest court in the state. The appeal remains pending as of the Dec. 23 filing.
APD spokespeople directed a Citizen Times request for comment on the federal lawsuit to the city of Asheville's legal department. Deputy City Attorney John Maddux said as of Dec. 30 the city had not been served and declined to comment.
What's in the complaint?
The federal suit alleges that Bliss and Coit's arrests violated their right to record police activities, gather and report news in public spaces and engage in speech and expression critical of government officials, and to equal protection of the laws. It also argues the reporters had a "limited right to remain on the scene to report APD officers' actions," and their arrests lacked probable cause.
The complaint notes that before the 2021 arrests, the Blade had reported on and condemned APD's clearing of homeless encampments, and that city officials had expressed "general disdain" for media scrutiny as well as their specific dislike of the Blade's coverage.
It references a section of police body camera footage of the arrests — publicly released in February 2023 after a petition from multiple agencies — where officers are heard discussing whether to "deal with" the people in the tents first, or those standing, in reference to Bliss and Coit, who were observing the officers nearby. It is suggested they arrest Bliss and Coit first, since they are videotaping, according to the complaint.
About three minutes later, both Bliss and Coit are arrested.
Kristi Graunke, legal director at American Civil Liberties Union of North Carolina, who said she was familiar with the case, told the Citizen Times she felt it is particularly important "in light of the growing attacks on a free press in this country." Especially so, she said, because the complaint highlights the importance of the right of press to newsgather.
N.C. ACLU represented the felony littering defendants in a federal lawsuit last year that argued park bans issued against the protestors violated their constitutional rights. The city reached a settlement agreement in June, and lifted the bans.
According to the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker, which maintains a database of legal incidents involving journalists, plaintiffs Bliss and Coit have been the only journalists in North Carolina arrested and charged with trespassing while newsgathering since at least 2017, said the complaint.
Such cases are "rare," Graunke said.
“(If) you embolden the police to strike against reporters whose messages they disagree with, or people more broadly whose messages they disagree with, that really starts to erode freedoms that we, I think, have taken for granted in our society," she said.
The lawsuit said the "arrests and prosecutions ... have taken a toll on The Blade," with reporting opportunities lost due to time spent in court, and "severe emotional and physical health ailments" suffered by both reporters because of the anxiety and fear the arrests and charges have caused.
"We believe the filing speaks for itself," the Blade said in a statement Dec. 27. "The basic press freedoms of our reporters and our organization as a whole were attacked on multiple fronts and we're continuing to seek justice."
More: Asheville reporters file brief with NC Court of Appeals in Aston Park trespassing case
More: Asheville Aston Park felony littering cases dismissed: Buncombe County DA
Sarah Honosky is the city government reporter for the Asheville Citizen Times, part of the USA TODAY Network. News Tips? Email shonosky@citizentimes.com or message on Twitter at @slhonosky. Please support local, daily journalism with a subscription to the Citizen Times.
