A protester has filed a First Amendment lawsuit against police officers in Allentown, Pennsylvania, after they repeatedly attempted to intimidate him, including driving a car down a public sidewalk. To vindicate his right to film police officers, Phil Rishel has partnered with the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE) and sued the officers in federal court last week.
“The retaliation over my speech confirms that there is a huge issue with the culture of the Allentown Police Department,” Phil said in a press release. “These officers have a disdain for the rights of the people they’re sworn to protect — and I hope my lawsuit changes things for the better.”
Phil Rishel has filed a First Amendment lawsuit against police officers in Allentown, Pennsylvania.
FIRE and Maikeewee Photography LLC
On March 26, 2024, Phil was filming outside of a police parking garage in Allentown on a public sidewalk. Noticing Phil, Officer Dean Flyte pointed towards a “No Trespassing” sign, before heading back inside.
“Yeah, that’s a nice sign. Too bad it doesn’t apply to the public sidewalk,” Phil quipped.
Moments later, Flyte reappeared, this time in his police cruiser, and tried to exit the garage. But the officer botched the turn and instead hit the garage’s sidewall. Phil laughed and mocked Flyte for his driving. Undeterred, Flyte activated his lights and siren and started to slowly drive down the sidewalk towards Phil.
Phil fled. He found cover behind a concrete planter on the sidewalk. Flyte left the car and once again went back inside the garage, before re-emerging with a supervisor, Sgt. Christopher Stephenson. Sgt. Stephenson ordered Phil and threatened to arrest him if he walked down a public sidewalk. So Phil decided to leave for the day.
The very next day, Phil returned to the same police parking garage to continue filming outside. This time, according to FIRE’s lawsuit, Sgt. Joseph Iannetta “berated and tried to intimidate” Phil and outright told him, “You need to be institutionalized.”
Soon after Phil’s interaction with Iannetta, Sgt. Stephenson appeared and threatened to cite Phil because he was filming police officers. Phil also filmed the sergeant who claimed, on camera, that “one person is not a protest” and “filming is not a First Amendment right.” (He’s wrong on both counts.)
Stephenson charged Phil with both loitering and disorderly conduct for “verbally abusing, harassing, and screaming obscenities on the public street.” But in June 2024, the Lehigh County Magisterial District Court dismissed the charges of disorderly conduct, correctly noting that swearing or giving the middle finger are constitutionally protected under the First Amendment. The court did find Phil was guilty of loitering, but even this charge was later overturned on appeal.
Prior to filing his lawsuit with FIRE, Phil shared his footage documenting his experience with the Allentown officers with Lackluster Media. The video went viral in February, earning more than 1 million views.
What happened to Phil is part of a much larger pattern. In its complaint, FIRE details multiple cases where Allentown police officers were caught on film “violating citizens’ constitutional rights,” with cell phone cameras “providing an important check against police brutality and misconduct.” Over the past decade, the city has paid out more than $2 million to victims of police misconduct. Accordingly, Phil and FIRE are also suing the City of Allentown for its alleged “deliberate indifference” in failing to properly train and educate its police officers about respecting the First Amendment.
“Citizens trying to hold police officers accountable should not be punished,” said FIRE Attorney Zach Silver. “Public officials, including police officers, must uphold the law and respect citizens’ right to record police and to use harsh language, not bully them into silence.”
