Jeff Gray, a U.S. Army veteran and retired truck driver, has filed two lawsuits against the City of Alpharetta and two of its police officers and the police chief of the City of Blackshear, Georgia, alleging that his right to free speech has been violated.
According to reports, Gray was arrested and had his video camera turned off while he was holding a sign outside of Alpharetta City Hall that read “God Bless the Homeless Vets”. Gray is also suing the City of Blackshear for its permission-to-speak ordinance.
Gray believes that this is an infringement of his constitutional rights and has requested that the city drop the ordinance. He has also been banned from the area by the police, which FIRE (Foundation for Individual Rights in Education) believes is a violation of his First Amendment right to film police in public places.