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The American Civil Liberties Union of Indiana filed a federal lawsuit Tuesday challenging the state’s new 25-foot encroachment law, which prohibits a person from approaching within 25 feet of a law enforcement officer after the officer has ordered the person to stop.
According to the lawsuit, which was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Indiana, South Bend Division, the law violates the First Amendment by giving police “unbridled discretion” to prohibit people from approaching them within the designated area to observe their actions, even if the citizens aren’t interfering with police.
The law at issue went into effect July 1.
The complaint was brought on behalf of Donald Nicodemus, identified in court documents as a citizen-journalist, and names as a defendant the city of South Bend.
According to the complaint, Nicodemus, who for years has recorded police activity and posted the videos to his YouTube page, went to a scene where there were reports of shots fired.
He went to the corner of an intersection — which was “much more” than 25 feet from police activity, the complaint says — and began livestreaming.
An officer from the South Bend Police Department told Nicodemus and others assembled that they had to move back, and the officer stepped off what he indicated was the 25-foot buffer.
Nicodemus and the others moved to the location ordered by the officer, the lawsuit says.
But before being directed to move, there was a “disturbance” at a nearby home, the complaint says. The disturbance was “much further” than 25 feet away, according to the lawsuit, even before he was ordered further back.
Another officer then approached those who were gathered at the 25-foot point and said that area was his crime scene. He threatened that they would go to jail, the complaint says, if they didn’t move back another 25 feet.
According to the lawsuit, the second officer “apparently” interpreted the new law to allow police to “repeatedly push persons back 25 feet at a time based solely on a police officer ordering this.”
The ACLU is asking the court to declare the law unconstitutional and enter a preliminary injunction enjoining enforcement.
Indiana Lawyer has reached out to the South Bend Police Department for comment.
The case is Donald Nicodemus v. City of South Bend, Indiana, 3:23-cv-744.
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