Pastor Terrorized, Arrested For 'Reading the Bible Aloud' Scores 'Complete Victory'

you've been handling a very interesting case surrounding a Seattle Pastor who was arrested a couple of years back for reading the Bible in public he has now been Vindicated can you tell us a little bit about this story I can it's really a fitting end uh to an outrageous situation Billy what what had happened was the city of Seattle effectively made reading the Bible allowed a crime uh and it first occurred on June 24 2022 I don't know if that date sticks out to you but that was a date that the US Supreme Court rendered

the Dos decision that was a decision that overturn roow versus Wade so that there's there was this huge rally protest going on in downtown Seattle and Pastor Moni thought this would be a perfect opportunity to share the gospel so he took his Bible and he goes out there uh to read the Bible he he has very Earnest pro-life beliefs uh but that was not his purpose he really just wanted to share the gospel so he turned to the Book of John chapter 1 verse one and and started reading um but it was not received well

uh some protesters started to crowd in around him uh started saying some inflamatory uh derogatory things made him feel uncomfortable so he he moved off he he didn't want a conflict so he moved off a few feet away uh to a new spot but then at that spot uh some protester grabbed his Bible and started ripping the pages out of it right in front of them U undeterred Pastor Moni retrieved a second Bible and just resumed his reading and he was able to do that for a while but that's when antifa members uh got involved

and they became physical uh they started to pick up Pastor moniki he tried to grab a nearby saw horse to keep them from doing that uh but they picked up him and the saw horse walked over about a a block and a half away and then just dropped Pastor moniki on the concrete um he was he fighting back during this at all I mean what was he doing while they're picking him up and literally carrying him blocks away he really did not want to interact with him he he he was trying to avoid any type

of physical altercation so he he tried to grab the saw horse he he tried to do what he could do but once they started picking up he just went with it and and they dropped him uh and uh it it it hurt as you would expect it was on concrete and he but he started brushing himself off and at that point he he he was thinking well well maybe I should go home but he was convicted to stay so he found another spot and and he started reading the book of John again U but regrettably

uh some other protesters uh came up and and one knocked him down another grabbed his shoe for some reason they just grabbed a shoe and then finally after all those things uh the police arrived they were in vicinity the whole time but they didn't intercede until this point and and this is where this is where it becomes the most disappointing the police did not come to help Pastor moniki rather they told him he was the problem and and so at that point uh they said you have to leave you have to leave the area uh

you can no longer uh speak with people and and Pastor Miki knew he just knew he had a First Amendment right to share his views and so he wasn't just willing to walk away tried to reason with the police officers uh but they arrested him and uh they held him for several hours in a detaining Cell until after the abortion rally had ended uh really thoring his his opportunity to share the gospel can I can I interject for a second to ask a question because part of this that sounds very disturbing to me outside of

the Free Speech part of this which we'll talk about religious liberty you had other people physically grabbing a Bible ripping pages out of it picking him up carrying him dropping him that would be violence essentially in all those instances and physical contact were any of those people arrested held accountable or even talked to by the authorities as far as you know they were not and and that was really disturbing uh that uh all these things happened in front of police officers and and apparently they just let it go because to our knowledge the no one

was even um dressed uh certainly no one was arrested uh and and because the police officers pursuant to their policy figured that it was Pastor moniki that was the problem and so because of that stance they only addressed him and him alone what was their rationale for arresting him I mean on what charge were they essentially holding him they had they had a policy in place based on uh a law uh uh of obstructing a police officer and and what they based it on is they had this uh policy that if if someone is speaking

and there is a hostile reaction to it then they will ask the speaker to to leave or or or to stop the activity and if they do not then the police officer will ask that person to move they refer to it as a time place and manner which typically is is something that would be constitutional but the way they uh employed the the this terminology is they would require the speaker to leave so he would not have an audience at all he couldn't speak to anyone and so and if the speaker refuses then that person

is committing a crime so so it's really kind of a backwards way of addressing instead of dealing with the with the individuals who were actually committing crimes uh they were focusing in on a speaker who is really doing nothing wrong and here Pastor moniki doing nothing but reading the Bible and and what we what we found out was actually this wasn't just an an isolated uh determination by police officers this was actually part of an overall uh policy of the police force because two days later at the Seattle Center which is a public park that's

located in in downtown Seattle uh pastor moniki had previously planned to go there as well because the Annual Pride Fest was happening that day there again he wasn't really planning on getting into two issues his purpose was to share the gospel and in the same way he just read the Bible and in the same way he he encountered some some similar type adverse reactions it wasn't near as hostile as the the pro-abortion group but uh still he encountered some things some people were doing some inappropriate things in front of him uh some individual squirted water

on him the police arrived and and and what what he discovered was that for the same thing as they mentioned two days earlier is that they figured he was the problem and that he had to go and and when he uh resisted that's when he was arrested again yeah it's essential it's essentially that the heckler's veto right they don't want him there he has to go he's not welcome there which totally disregards in the way you're describing it his Free Speech rights religious liberty rights I mean we we don't have to love the speech that

we're hearing all the time so from the perspective of those protesters they didn't need to like what they were hearing but he had a right it sounds like to be there and it doesn't just sound that way there's a legal remedy to this U talk a little bit about what what was was found in coure and where things stand now in terms of his victory yeah that that that's correct it's it's a heckler's veto which which essentially it means exactly the way it sounds is is that uh you cannot allow the the Heckler of a

speech to to be able to censor or or shut down that speech it's a doctrine that has been long been recognized by the US Supreme Court and regrettably it was just not recognized by uh the Seattle Police Department and so we brought suit uh and and regrettably we lost at the district court level the district judge ruled against us we we brought a motion for a preliminary injunction uh basically asking the court for Relief because Pastor Moni wanted to go out again he he has this burden to share the gospel and he really was was

wanting relief as soon as possible that was denied so he he took that ruling to the uh nth Circuit Court of Appeals and before a three-judge panel it was unanimous uh they reversed the court below they held exactly the way you described they said this is a heckler's veto it's unconstitutional and uh and said that and they give instructions to the district court to give him the preliminary injunction he was seeking so that really then left okay what do we do with the remainer of the case and the city at that point saw the writing

on the wall that the knife circuit had ruled they held this is a heckler's veto and at that point we're able to enter into a consent order which uh gave uh not just preliminary relief but permanent relief for pastor maniki so that he can go back to the streets of Seattle and share the good news so he will get attorney fees reasonable expenses as well in this right that's part of this of this Victory that's right he he received some compensatory damages because he was uh falsely arrested on on two separate occasions and then also

it's something that's known as nominal damages which is is symbolic but it's still important because what it what it represents is a vindication it recognizes a violation of his constitutional rights and then also attorney's fees and expenses as well so it was a complete full victory for pastor moniki during this time from 2022 until 2024 when this was resolved was he able to go out and preach at all or did he pull back from doing that because of the arrest that he had faced well he I think he had intentions on holding back he really

did but uh he he just couldn't really help himself because he really wants to go out there and share the gospel so and he actually encountered a third arrest for for reading the Bible while the case was ongoing but but once we obtained the preliminary injunctive relief uh then uh Pastor moniki was was let alone he's able to go out share the gospel and again just purely reading the Bible so so final question for you as we look at this with this situation obviously it sounds like this was a policy of the police and of

course this is one case it's a big case in light of what has unfolded but what happens next in terms of the police and their policies will it change you know is there any sort of control that this case has or sway over those policies uh most definitely uh and I think in a couple different respects one is is certainly with this particular policy with this heckler's veto which which they had in essence made part of police policy uh that is no longer there uh they are in joint uh they cannot do it if so

that they'll they'll be answerable to the court and and also I I think there's there's also another benefit of this ruling and that is uh the police have been put on notice that if if someone is peacefully speaking uh you need to acknowledge those rights you need to allow them to uh go forth with their first amendment freedoms uh just like anyone else well I want to thank you for breaking this story down it's definitely an important one whenever there's a free speech battle particularly a religious liberty one like this so I appreciate your time

today oh thank you Billy it's my pleasure