From Judge Lee Rudofsky's opinion denying summary judgment, yesterday's Long v. Smith (E.D. Ark.); seems quite right to me (for more on criminal harassment statutes and the First Amendment, see this article):
On May 15, 2016, Derrick Long (Grant Long's nephew) filed a personnel complaint against Officer [Darren] Smith. Derrick Long accused Officer Smith of unlawfully entering Derrick Long's house, taking his dog, and stealing $900. In response to this personnel complaint, the Forrest City Police Department conducted an Internal Affairs investigation. During the investigation, Officer Smith told investigators that his bodycam would show that he never ventured beyond the doorway of Derrick Long's home. Officer Smith also said that he never took the dog.
On June 3, 2016, the Internal Affairs investigator informed Officer Smith that a complete review of the investigation resulted in a "finding of true." That is, Derrick Long's complaint about Officer Smith's conduct was confirmed as being accurate. [Details omitted. -EV]
After this incident, Grant Long (our Plaintiff) sent a Freedom of Information Act request to the Forrest City Police Department. [Details omitted. -EV] On January 8, 2018, Mr. Long filed [but later lost] a pro se federal lawsuit against Forrest City, Officer Smith, and numerous other city officials. [Details omitted. -EV] …
