On June 7th a few of us took a banner onto a public sidewalk along a freeway overpass in Fullerton to participate in constitutionally-protected free speech in support of Bill Hunt for Sheriff. Almost immediately, a CHP officer told us to leave or we would be ticketed and removed.
Citing the 1st amendment, we declined and held our position for nearly an hour.
Eventually backup arrived and we were threatened multiple times with arrest, although the officers would not say which law was being violated. Here is a clip of the event, which reveals several disturbing statements made by the officer.
We decided to leave after the officer began to quiver with anger and his threats of arrest became more forceful.
The officer then suggested that we were being paid and then made disparaging remarks about the candidate who we were supporting. Those statements were extremely unprofessional and suggest that the officer’s intentions may have been political in nature.
We have been informed of similar accounts of intimidation of sign-holders by the CHP at other freeway overpasses throughout Orange County on that same day.
A complaint of officer misconduct will be filed with the California Highway Patrol shortly.