WPRO News and the Associated Press
PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) — A disabled man who was cited by police for soliciting donations at an intersection is suing, saying a city ordinance that prohibits it violates his constitutional right to free speech.
Michael Monteiro is being represented by the Rhode Island chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union, which says the federal lawsuit filed Wednesday is the first of several that are planning over laws the ACLU says target the poor.
“They’ve been harassing me,” Monteiro said. “Writing me up, I have to go to court, threatened with fines. It just doesn’t seem right, all them years I did it before and nobody bothered me…now all of a sudden it’s not right?”
Monteiro says he has periodically asked for donations at the intersection in Cranston for years, but stopped this summer after he was cited by police, then told by a judge not to return.
The ACLU says cheerleaders and firefighters asking for donations in roadways have not been cited. “If you go along any major road, you’ll see lots of requests for giving,” said Rhode Island ACLU President Steven Brown. “They’re on billboards, big advertisements. Everybody seems to think that’s perfectly fine. But, if you have one individual seeking to do the same thing on his own, suddenly it becomes a criminal offense.”
Cranston’s director of administration said the city had not yet been served with the lawsuit.
