A man is suing the city of of Peoria, Illinois after he was arrested over creating a parody account of the city’s mayor.
Jonathan Daniel’s house was raided on April 15th after police terrifyingly tracked him down as the individual who ran a parody Twitter account of mayor Jim Ardis, The mayor was allegedly upset about the account, which included jokes about him taking drugs and sleeping with prostitutes, with his complaint leading to the local police force raiding the man’s home. 29-year-old Daniel is now suing the mayor and six other city officials for damages, accusing them of violating his First and Fourth Amendment Rights. On the other hand, officials state they arrested him on the for the misdemeanor charge of impersonating a public official, which could lead to one year in prison and a $2,500 fine.
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In a statement released by the American Civil Libertines Union (ACLU), Daniel said: “The joke of the account was to have my fictional mayor saying things that no one would possibly think that Mayor Jim Ardis would say. If the Mayor was concerned, all he had to do was tell the public that his was not his account and not his words, rather than involving the police.”
According to the lawsuit filed against Ardis and the other officials, the police arrested Daniel and seized some of his belongings, including his cellphone, all without a warrant. It was revealed that the police found Daniel after they had sent a search warrant to both Twitter and Comcast demanding his whereabouts.
