From Chief Judge Sarah Morrison (S.D. Ohio) yesterday in Peace v. Carter:
On the morning of April 25, 2024, protestors against Israel's actions in Gaza and OSU's involvement with Israel gathered at the South Oval (a space on OSU's campus in front of the student union) and set up camping equipment. At approximately 9:30 a.m., OSU police ordered that all camping equipment be removed from the South Oval and the protesters complied. Subsequently, OSU Police Division Deputy Chiefs Eric Whiteside and Dennis Jeffrey determined that the protest violated OSU's University Space Rules ("USR") because it was a continuation of an event that had improper tents. Later that evening, another group of protestors attempted to construct encampments on the South Oval….
Mr. Peace graduated from OSU in 2021. He arrived at the South Oval at approximately 9:57 a.m. on April 25, 2024, and joined with protestors who were expressing their criticism of OSU and Israel in a peaceful and nondisruptive manner. By the time he arrived, protesters had already begun to tear down the encampment; they finished within a few minutes of his arrival.
Within ten minutes of Mr. Peace's arrival, OSU police officers, including Deputy Chief Whiteside, approached the protesters with whom Mr. Peace was standing. While Mr. Peace filmed, Deputy Chief Whiteside told them that the University had determined that their protest was a continuation of an event that had violated the USR by having tents and that the protestors needed to disperse. At no point did Deputy Chief Whiteside tell them to leave the OSU campus or the South Oval. The protestors dispersed and people not involved in the protest continued to use the South Oval as normal.
Mr. Peace walked approximately 150 feet to the south of the original encampment site where he began filming an "arrest squad" of OSU officers under the command of Lt. Alan Horujko. Around 10:17 a.m., while Mr. Peace was filming, Lt. Horujko directed two members of the arrest squad to arrest Mr. Peace for criminal trespassing.
