DOJ weighs civil rights probe into Fort Worth police over alleged First Amendment violations

The Justice Department is seeking information from the City of Fort Worth to determine whether to launch a civil rights investigation into the Fort Worth Police Department after publicly posted videos appeared to show officers restricting Christian street preachers' speech based on its content.

A Monday letter from Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division Harmeet Dhillon asked Fort Worth City Attorney Hon. Leann D. Guzman to help them determine if they should investigate the Texas city's police department after videos showed officers potentially violating people’s First Amendment rights.

"The Civil Rights Division (Division) is committed to ensuring that all Americans—regardless of the content or viewpoint of their speech—are protected from unlawful restrictions on expressive activity," Dhillon wrote. "Government actors may not engage in viewpoint discrimination or restrict peaceful expressive conduct simply because the speech may be unpopular, offensive, or controversial. The Supreme Court long has held that the First Amendment prohibits government discrimination against speech based on its message, including discrimination tied to the specific motivating ideology or the opinion or perspective of the speaker."

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In a statement to Fox News Digital last week, the Fort Worth Police Department acknowledged that an officer made "certain statements that were not accurate" during a viral encounter last month with a Christian street preacher outside a Pride festival, while maintaining that the citation he received stemmed from the use of a bullhorn that allegedly violated the city's noise ordinance, not the content of the preacher's speech.

Officers responded to a June 27 incident at Trinity Pride Fest after nearby business owners complained that the amplified sound disrupted their operations and drove away customers.

Rich Penkoski, a Christian street preacher, was on hand to speak in protest of the festival.

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Penkoski said in a video posted on X on July 8: "Fort Worth Police officer says calling a biological male a male is a gray area that could be citable at some point and then says he can't do anything about half naked men running around children at pride."

In the video, a male Fort Worth police officer said calling a biological male a "sir" is a "gray area" and that he would potentially ticket people for "offensive" language.

Penkoski, along with fellow preacher David Grisham, appeared in another July 8 video he reposted on X from Libs of TikTok where a female officer said, "If someone is offended by your talking, then we have a problem."

"You're going to ticket us for 'offensive' speech?" a man asked the female officer in the video.

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"Yes, absolutely," the female cop responded, saying it was called disorderly conduct.

"The biggest issue I think that I have is just the conversations and the way that we were describing what is lawful, what is not lawful," Fort Worth Police Chief Eddie Garcia told WFAA about the incident, later adding, "When we're right, we're right. And when we're wrong, we're wrong. And there certainly was a better way to have that communication, and we were wrong in the manner of which we communicated that. Certainly, we're going to take accountability for it."

Garcia said the department is undergoing First Amendment rights training.

The DOJ gave the city 30 days to provide records that will help determine whether further action is warranted, including the police department's First Amendment policies, training materials, records of citizen complaints alleging violations of protected speech since 2015, documents related to enforcement of the Grisham consent decree, and any additional information showing how the department intends to protect constitutionally protected expression.

"The Division takes First Amendment compliance seriously and remains steadfast in its responsibility to protect individuals exercising their constitutional rights. We look forward to your response and your cooperation in this matter," Dhillon wrote.

Fox News Digital reached out to Dhillon for comment, and she referred to her Tuesday X post where she included a copy of the letter and wrote, "Government actors cannot discriminate against viewpoints or restrict peaceful free speech just because it may be offensive to some. Under this administration, the @CivilRights Division will defend free speech, as protected by the Constitution."

In a statement to Fox News Digital, Penkoski said, "First and foremost, we want to thank the Assistant Attorney General for making this inquiry. We know that under previous administrations, this would have been completely ignored. While various special interest groups claim this administration is targeting their rights, the exact opposite is true—it is Christians whose constitutional rights are actively being stripped away on the ground."

​Penkoski continued, "But we also have to look in the mirror. The vacuum that Christians have created is being filled by everyone else because we decided to keep the gospel indoors while the world burns around us. The Church and Christians are supposed to be the ones that restrain evil, but instead, we have allowed evil to restrain Christians and conservatives. This incident is a massive wake-up call. It is time for believers to stop retreating, stand up, and start aggressively exercising the rights we have before they are gone completely."

He added, "It seems that AAG Dhillon is the only person in the entire federal government who understands why our government even exists. Sad. But, promising."

Fox News Digital reached out to the Fort Worth Police Department and Guzman for comment.