Today, it was necessary to file a civil rights lawsuit against Flint Mayor Sheldon Neeley, Flint Police Chief Terence Green, and several police officers. Instead of permitting members of churches and others to engage in a peaceful march against Flint political corruption and in support of social and economic changes in Flint, we allege the defendants conspired in advance to intimidate the marchers and prevent them from exercising their First Amendment right of free expression and peaceful assembly. They violently arrested the husband of Neeley’s political enemy, Beverly Biggs-Leavy, and towed his car and the car of John Groff, another ally of Ms. Biggs-Leavy. When city officials use armed police to silence political foes and those protesting city policies, the very essence of democracy is attacked and requires the judiciary to intervene.
When asked about this lawsuit and the fact several people had brought up that at the city council meeting the night before that Terence Leavy had been pulled out of his vehicle during the protest at a press conference also held on June 3 about other important matters, Mayor Neeely responded:
“I think that we’re still going to look at the way that we want to be able to present that level of evidence during the adjudication process, or the process of going through the effectuation of charge and going in front of the courts. But I think that the small snippet that people are reacting to was an editing piece of social media. But once the full story comes out they will find a very different outlook. Of course anybody would be upset of a story saying that an older man was viciously handled. That’s just the human nature in all of us. But, if the person was not compliant to orders of law, if they were using self inflicted types of harms and not engaging in peaceful activity, all of us have a duty and responsibility to enforce the law. So, we need to look at it in its totality. And people ca be upset, but it doesn’t give them the ability to cause more safety issues the staff and elected officials were facing last night.”
Neeley also said the Lento Law Group had sued the City of Flint multiple times and had not won a lawsuit against the City of Flint yet.
