Fee for Police Detail Spawns Pastor's Lawsuit
by Allie Martin
July 10, 2006
(AgapePress) - - A Massachusetts pastor has filed a lawsuit against one city after he claims officials charged him for providing police protection at a Christian event.
Earlier this year Thomas Crouse, pastor of the Holland Congregational Church, held a "Mister Heterosexual" contest in Worcester. The event featured a former homosexual who spoke of his deliverance from that lifestyle through a relationship with Christ.
Pastor Crouse says he was contacted before the event by city and police officials who were concerned about threats by homosexual activists to picket the event, and was told a police detail would cost $6,000. Crouse explains he had to borrow the money to cover those costs, or else the event would not have occurred -- and that, he says, does not make sense.
"But if I wasn't willing to do that [borrow the money], the event wouldn't have gone off, and the protesters would have won -- which is upside down," says the pastor. Indeed, homosexual rights groups protested outside the event, claiming Crouse was intolerant -- and the pastor was billed for a police detail.
Crouse believes such policies are unconstitutional and infringe upon his free-speech rights. "If the protesters can create such a protest that the person holding the event has to pay for it, they could shut it down -- and that's against your rights," he says. "And it's against anyone's rights as far as having an event."
And it puts the power in the protesters' hands, he adds. "If the homosexual activists could do that with me, then they could do it with any other person who wanted to have an event and share Christ and share the gospel," Crouse says. And that, says the pastor, makes it "a pretty important case."
The Massachusetts clergyman is optimistic about the outcome. "I think the most important thing is to have the court decide -- which I'm sure they will -- that the city of Worcester, the police department, did the wrong thing in charging me for the extra police and that that shouldn't be the responsibility of the person holding the event," he comments.
The lawsuit seeks reimbursement for damages and legal fees. It also requests an injunction against future fees if Pastor Crouse holds other events in Worcester.
Allie Martin, a regular contributor to AgapePress, is a reporter for American Family Radio News, which can be heard online.
