YouTuber Leroy Truth was arrested for disorderly conduct at last night’s Union City Board of Commissioners meeting, being led out in handcuffs, prompting him and his attorney to vow to sue the city.
By John Heinis/Hudson County View
” … The defendant committed the act of disorderly conduct by purposely and knowingly disrespecting the board of commissioners, failed to comply with multiple orders to sit down, failure to stand behind the podium as ordered by Captain [Omar] Hernandez,” the criminal complaint against Truth, whose real name is Leonard Filipowski, says.
“Was deemed by [Corporation Counsel] Angelo [Auteri] to have displayed disruptive behavior during the meeting and failure to step away from the commissioners.”
Filipowski says he has video of the meeting that will show he did nothing wrong and that this was simply part of an ongoing plot to silence him.
“I was talking about U.S. Senator Bob Menendez being found guilty on all charges, which means [Mayor Brian] Stack is not untouchable anymore. He said ‘you’re harassing me’ and Captain Hernandez said ‘you can’t disrespect the commissioners,’ later adding that I had to stand by the podium, which I challenged and did not comply,” he proclaimed.
“What they did was so egregiously wrong to arrest me: they never asked me to leave, there’s no rule that you have to stand behind the podium.”
West New York-based attorney Mario Blanch, who is representing Filipowski in the matter, said he plans on filing a lawsuit requesting an injunction to prevent the city from engaging in this type of conduct, as well as malicious prosecution and wrongful arrest.
“They’re violating his First Amendment rights left and right. I think this was a false arrest, I watched it on video: I’ve never seen anything like that in my life. What Stack did is the dumbest thing I’ve ever seen,” Blanch said over the phone.
“We’ve all watched the videos: even if they disagree with his opinions, he’s entitled to voice his opinions as he sees fit. Everyone gets five minutes to speak at a public meeting. How they use those five minutes is up to them … Beyond that, they have no right to stifle his freedom of speech.”
While this is the first time Filipowski, who took an interest in Union City government and politics in December and has been unrelenting ever since, has been arrested, his swashbuckling with the administration has been ongoing for months.
HCV filed an Open Public Records Act (OPRA) request today seeking police body camera and surveillance footage from the incident.
In March, Stack, also the state Senator of the 33rd Legislative District, Commissioner Wendy Grullon, and Police Chief Anthony Facchini filed “citizens complaints” against him, with the self-proclaimed investigative journalist filing one back against Facchini.
The harassment complaints from Stack and Facchini are still pending and were scheduled to be heard in municipal court on Monday, but that was postponed to move the matters to a venue that does not have any conflicts of interest.
“Social media postings and video content were generated labeling Mr. Facchini a corrupt public official derelict in his duty with the intent to cause repeated annoyance and emotional harm,” Facchini’s complaint contends.
Facchini and Corporation Counsel Angelo Auteri did not return an email seeking comment on Wednesday.
