A sheriff went to a teenagers house and threatened arrest if she didn't remove a COVID19 post

[Demovictory9]

A Wisconsin teenager won a lawsuit against a sheriff and his deputy who allegedly threatened to have her jailed if she didn't remove a social media post about her COVID-19 experience in March 2020, the Wausau Daily Herald reported.


On Friday, US District Judge Brett Ludwig ruled that student Amyiah Cohoon's free speech rights had been violated.

"Demanding a 16-year-old remove protected speech from her Instagram account is a First Amendment violation," Ludwig said in the ruling.

According to court documents, Cohoon, after returning from a spring break trip to Florida with the Westfield Area High School band on March 15, 2020, suspected she had been infected with the coronavirus. On March 26, she posted about her illness, including a photo of her wearing an oxygen mask in a hospital.
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On March 27, 2020, Marquette County Sheriff Joseph Konrath sent a Sgt. Cameron Klump to Coohon's home. Klump then allegedly threatened Cohoon with arrest if she didn't remove the posts. Cohoon took down the posts at Klump's request.

Cohoon's attorney, Luke Berg, told the Associated Press in April 2020 that the school's administrator, Bob Meicher, had called Konrath about the posts. Cohoon's parents also reportedly contacted the parents of other students on the trip to warn them about the possible exposure.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/crime/a-sheriff-told-a-wisconsin-teenager-to-take-down-a-covid-19-instagram-post-a-judge-ruled-it-a-first-amendment-violation/ar-AAONFcT?ocid=msedgntp

[LeftInTX]

1. WTF?

[usaf-vet]

2. Free college money. Pick a school Marquette County will be picking up the tab. Or sock it away.....

.... for your first house.

I hope she and her attorneys bleed them dry.

[malaise]

17. The only good thing here

These people are fascists

[BlueIdaho]

43. Easy Money...

This stupid hayseed just confirms my belief that all County Mounties can wear a badge without ever getting a GED.

[vercetti2021]

3. Would have told them to stick it up their asses

Arrest her for what? Hurting your feels? Fascist fucks

[DFW]

4. Where did Sgt. Klump get his training? East Berlin?

Stalin seems alive and well in parts of Wisconsin, it seems.

[elleng]

5. and spreading.

[lostnfound]

16. Happened in March 2020, lawlessness reigned. But this lawsuit will end up harming us all

Looks like a setup from a Republican legal institute.
Cops showing up for a social media post? Screw that. But what if it’s a whole troll farm spreading “vaccines are killing us all” or “rally to stop the steal” lies? This court case is preparation for something else.

[Effete Snob]

20. Are you saying the First Amendment shouldn't protect stupid speech?

The First Amendment protects stupid assholes to spout whatever dumb shit they want.

[lostnfound]

24. What do you plan to do about the hospitals jam packed with deluded dupes?

[Effete Snob]

26. They stop talking once they are intubated

Reasonable time, place and manner restrictions in a public health care facility is not the same thing as sending the police, with guns, to arrest you for saying something on social media, at the behest of a school administrator.

[Ziggysmom]

7. Don't the law enforcement douchebags have anything else to do? Like serve & protect?

Sue the bastards!

[brush]

8. Didn't they learn anything in civics? I mean it's the First Goddamn Amendment.

The very first one.

[Skittles]

9. ugh

even more disgusting is the band going on spring break two weeks after the pandemic was declared a NATIONAL EMERGENCY in America

[Bernardo de La Paz]

10. Be sure that sheriff & sgt are threatening other people illegally and worse. Tip of iceberg I'm sure

[A HERETIC I AM]

11. Best country in the world, and all that.

[sarcasmo]

34. Merica!

[Grokenstein]

12. My first question was: "Why? What was their game?"

...I mean, aside from having an excuse to harass one of "those people." SURPRISE!!* They wanted to hush her up "to avoid a panic!"** You know, just like dim donny likes to brag about doing!

*not actually surprising at all
**no, it really was just having an excuse to harass one of "those people"

Konrath and Klump tried to have the case dismissed, the Wausau Daily Herald reported. They said they reasonably believed her posts were causing "significant disturbance, anxiety, fear, concern, and even panic among other citizens," which gave Klump probable cause to charge her with disorderly conduct.

[AZLD4Candidate]

13. My wife always says: Chinese cops are useless. American cops are dangerous

I'd rather have useless than dangerous.

I can't disagree.

[lostnfound]

14. Trojan Horse. A wolf wearing wool. READ the press release from the attorney and purpose of WILL

Purpose of this is going to end up creating court rulings defending the spread of antivax propaganda, lies about elections, etc . This is a right wing Trojan horse

https://will-law.org/will-wins-first-amendment-lawsuit-against-marquette-county-sheriff/
And the purpose of the “Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty” WILL
https://will-law.org/our-story/

[Effete Snob]

19. So what?

The idea that the police can threaten a teenager not to engage in speech is much more dangerous than the stupid ideas in question.

It is unfortunate that there are people who only believe in “free speech I agree with”.

Regardless of whatever obnoxious idiotic nonsense she was spouting, you don’t send the police to shit her up.

I don’t support selective fascism and neither should anyone else.

[Captain Stern]

22. This. Thanks for writing that. You wrote it better than I would have, and saved me some time. n/t

[lostnfound]

23. It's fascism that I AM worried about. Road to hell has already been paved

Do you have any problem with the organizing of an insurrection by Ali Alexander on all of the Stop the Steal websites?

Do you have any problem with Dr Joseph Mercola and others peddling the “Vaccine is too dangerous so buy these remedies instead” line?

Do you have any problem with Russian-style troll farms putting out last-minute “mistakes” about elections?

Police must not be allowed to threaten teenagers engaging in speech.

But the US will not survive what has been planned as a misinformation sh*tstorm. This court case is a strategy to shape a future in which fascists get elected and the pandemic continues to wreak chaos.

[Hassin Bin Sober]

25. Just stop.

You need a refresher course on The First Amendment versus:

Actual incitement/planning of violence - Jan 6th

Regulated sectors like drugs/medicine - Mercola/FDA (unfortunately that clown is pretty good at staying on the legal side)

Foreign intelligence operators not protected by The 1st - Russians

[cinematicdiversions]

29. Taking away our freedoms will not fix stupid.

We simply have to outvote the stupid and give a proper that is a shame as the lemmings continue to kill themselves off in various ways.

[stopdiggin]

30. you prove over and over, in your own words

that you do not support speech that you disapprove of or disagree with.

That's not the First Amendment. And that's kinda' scary, bub.

[wellst0nev0ter]

40. Yeah, no

Agents of the state are not allowed to directly mandate the takedown or give prior approval to speech.

Private companies that control internet forums can do whatever the hell they want.

If Facebook takes down a post, that's not a violation of free speech. That's just a violation of Facebook's policy.

[KentuckyWoman]

42. Add me to the don't care list.

Free speech rights aren't decided by police - or a school employee. It's decided in the courts.

[ck4829]

15. K&R

[hlthe2b]

18. Has nothing happened to the school administrator who called the sheriff demanding action

the first place? There was no mention in the article. He may claim innocence but what did he think would happen when he called law enforcement over a social media post with which he had an issue?

[2naSalit]

21. +1

[H2O Man]

27. +2

[uponit7771]

35. +1

[Demovictory9]

36. Wisconsin Institute for Liberty and Law filed the lawsuit against Law Enforcement only

[Act_of_Reparation]

28. As a Connecticutian, I remain utterly baffled by the notion of an empowered sherrif.

Let me get this straight.

The chief law enforcement officer of an entire county is an elected position? Don't get me wrong, I believe there needs to be civilian oversight where law enforcement is concerned, but making this shit a popularity contest for rural voters practically ensures you're gonna get fucking nutbags like Arpaio and this fine specimen running the show.

[Effete Snob]

38. Im boggled by jurisdictions which elect judges

I suppose there are places that elect both.

[niyad]

31. The child (a legal MINOR), posts about possibly having covid. She has on an oxygen mask.

So why is there the assumption by some that she was spouting nonsense?

The principal, or whatever the little dirtbag's title iss, spends our tax dollars searching social media posts by students? And calls the cops for something he doesn't like? Pretty sure he needs to be sued, and removed from his position of authority.

Too many authoritarian in positions of trust and power.

[Grasswire2]

32. I want to see a photo of Sgt. Cameron Klump.

Pretty badly.

[Demovictory9]

37. here you go

[Initech]

33. And people wonder why I don't use Facebook or Instagram.

[Sugarcoated]

41. This one story makes you afraid to express yourself on social media?

Damn. Not me

[Sogo]

39. Sounds to me that the school administrator was doing a CYA

for himself and the school for taking the students on a trip that potentially exposed them to COVID.

[Sympthsical]

44. I just knew a school was involved as soon as I read the title

There is a breed of school administrator who truly thinks they run a child's life no matter where they are.

I remember in my school - think late 90s - the administrators would find out there was some party somewhere, and they'd haul students into the office to question about it.

"Were you there? You have to tell us the truth!"

Uh, how 'bout you go fuck yourself? What I do outside of school is none of your god damned business. That's my parents' job.

Now, I don't envy schools nowadays, with all the social media. You know, what role should they have in something like, say, cyber-bullying of a student? Lots of tricky questions and gray areas.

But this shit, no. And calling the cops?

I want to hear about some firings and resignations here.

[rockfordfile]

45. That should a ex-sheriff. He should be in jail.