A lawsuit filed in federal court alleges that Wright City police officers violated a resident’s constitutional rights when they arrested him after he displayed his middle finger at them.

Hubert “Josh” Hall filed the lawsuit in U.S. Circuit Court on Dec. 12, according to a court document newly obtained by The Record. In it, Hall alleges that former Wright City detective Chris Beard and police officers Jose Malta-Gonzalez and Collin Haney violated his constitutional rights of free speech and protection from unreasonable search and seizure.

According to the lawsuit, Hall’s encounter with police initially began on March 10, 2022, when Officer Malta stopped at Hall’s residence to issue citations for derelict vehicles. After an argumentative conversation, Hall began leaving the property in his vehicle and directed Malta to leave as soon as possible. Malta replied that he would take his time, at which point Hall made a rude gesture with his middle finger and drove away.

While driving away, Hall also passed the vehicle of Officer Haney and allegedly gave him the finger as well.

Hall alleges that Officer Malta then radioed to fellow officers and made a “knowingly false” statement that Hall had threatened Malta. Hall’s vehicle was quickly stopped by Detective Beard, and after another argument, Beard arrested Hall with the help of Officer Haney, according to the lawsuit. Hall’s vehicle was towed.

Hall was issued misdemeanor citations for disorderly conduct, failure to comply, and resisting arrest. The charges were later dropped after Hall complained to police department supervisors.

Hall’s lawsuit contends that officers had no legitimate reason to conduct a traffic stop or arrest him, and that they did so purely as retaliation for his use of a profane gesture. That gesture is protected by the First Amendment, regardless of how rude it is, the lawsuit states.

“Beard, Haney, and Malta’s conduct was done in bad faith, was malicious, was based solely in misplaced pride, and was done to display their perceived power in being police officers as opposed to ordinary citizens such as (Hall),” the lawsuit alleges.

As a result of that arrest, Hall purportedly was made to fear for his personal safety, suffered the loss of his time and freedom, and was forced to pay “hundreds of dollars” to get his vehicle returned. Hall also claims that he will have to spend more time and money trying to get the arrest removed from his record.

Also suing city  government

Hall’s lawsuit also accuses the Wright City government of maintaining lax policies that fail to prevent officers from engaging in “malicious conduct.” The city police department, the lawsuit states, “failed to implement any new policies or practices to identify or discipline officers for conducting unreasonable seizures and violating citizens’ free speech rights. In these failures, (Wright City) has been deliberately indifferent to the rights of citizens, and these failures and policies are the moving force behind ... the constitutional violations suffered by (Hall).”

Hall is represented by the O’Brien Law Firm out of St. Louis County.

Investigation and discipline

Contrary to Hall’s lawsuit, two of the officers involved in Hall’s arrest were disciplined by the Wright City Board of Aldermen, which had ordered a review of Hall’s arrest in late September. Following that review, aldermen held a closed session meeting in October and voted to fire Detective Beard and to discipline Officer Malta, according to meeting minutes obtained by The Record.

City officials have not confirmed whether those disciplinary actions were a direct result of the review of Hall’s arrest. The details of the review and the disciplinary actions are confidential personnel records, said Mayor Michelle Heiliger.

Detective Beard, after being fired, sued the city in November for alleged harassment and wrongful termination.