A Tennessee man has taken legal action against the Kingsport Police Department after a yearslong criminal case that began with him recording an officer on the road and ended with an appellate court throwing out his conviction, according to Fox News.
Joshua Gibbons says police targeted him because he publicly called attention to an officer’s behavior. His lawsuit, brought with the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, or FIRE, names the city of Kingsport, its police chief and individual officers and alleges that the department retaliated against speech protected by the First Amendment.
The confrontation began in October 2022, when Gibbons saw a Kingsport police SUV traveling quickly at night without its emergency lights activated. He recorded the vehicle, eventually catching up with the officer at a fast food restaurant and questioning him about his driving. Nothing came of the encounter at the time, and the officer simply continued on his way.
The situation escalated after Gibbons put the footage online. Gibbons frequently records police activity and publishes the videos, and FIRE contends the department began scrutinizing his YouTube account after another person complained about separate footage in which an officer appeared to give Gibbons the middle finger.
According to the lawsuit, police soon turned their attention to the earlier driving video. Authorities secured a warrant accusing Gibbons of disorderly conduct as well as traffic violations related to his own driving while recording. FIRE says the warrant was obtained through a court clerk rather than presented to a judge.
The response that followed was far more aggressive. Before sunrise the next morning, eight armed officers showed up at Gibbons’ home and took him into custody in front of his daughter and elderly mother. The arrest occurred nine days after his original encounter with the officer.
Gibbons says the raid had a lasting impact on his family and believes its purpose was to frighten him into silence. He has said he intends to continue pursuing the case because his family no longer feels secure in its own home.
Fox News writes that the resulting prosecution stretched across nearly four years. Gibbons was cleared of the traffic-related accusations during his first trial but convicted of disorderly conduct. After challenging that decision, he was again convicted by a jury in circuit court.
Tennessee’s Court of Criminal Appeals eventually reversed the result. In a unanimous June decision, the appellate court concluded that the evidence did not establish disorderly conduct and dismissed the remaining charge altogether.
The judges found that Gibbons had neither threatened anyone nor behaved violently and that his comments did not stop anyone from carrying out a lawful activity. The ruling also underscored that offensive or insulting language directed toward police does not, by itself, amount to criminal conduct.
FIRE argues that the timing is central to the civil case. Attorney Adam Steinbaugh said the officer who initially encountered Gibbons did not treat his criticism as criminal behavior. It was only after Gibbons published the encounter and drew attention to the department, FIRE contends, that police decided to pursue him.
Gibbons is now seeking to hold the city and department officials accountable for what he alleges was retaliation against constitutionally protected activity. Beyond his own case, he says he wants the lawsuit to force changes in how Kingsport police respond to citizens who record or criticize officers.