News & Commentary

DENVER – The ACLU of Colorado announced today that it will represent Ryan and Benjamin Brown, two African-American men who were pulled over, removed from their vehicle, handcuffed, searched and detained by Colorado Springs police over an apparent cracked windshield. Benjamin Brown, the driver, was ordered by police to exit the vehicle at taser-point, immediately handcuffed, searched, held in the back of a police car, and finally issued a citation for an obstructed view.  Ryan Brown, the passenger, who recorded the interaction on his phone, was dragged from the car, held at gunpoint, and now faces a criminal charge for “interfering with official police duties.”“What Ryan and Benjamin Brown experienced at the hands of the Colorado Springs police is sadly all too familiar for young people of color,” said ACLU of Colorado Legal Director Mark Silverstein.  “No reasonable person could watch the video recording of the traffic stop and say that two white men would have been treated the same way.”

DENVER – The City of Fort Collins has agreed to stop arresting, ticketing, citing, or otherwise interfering with individuals who engage in passive solicitation as part of a settlement agreement announced jointly by the ACLU of Colorado and Fort Collins today.The ACLU filed a lawsuit in early February alleging that both the Fort Collins panhandling ordinance and its enforcement by local police violated the First Amendment.  According to the suit, the ordinance was overly broad and prohibited peaceful, polite and nonthreatening requests for charity.  In addition, the ACLU presented evidence that the overwhelming majority of the City’s enforcement had been directed at individuals who only passively asked for charity by displaying a sign, an activity that was not actually prohibited by the challenged ordinance.