Youth Pastor Arrested

Matthew Snatchko was manhandled and shoved against a storefront window, handcuffed tightly enough to draw blood, arrested, and taken to the local police station where he was booked on battery and trespassing charges.
His crime? Sharing his faith with willing listeners at the local mall.

Evidently, someone that he offered to talk to about his faith was “offended”, so a Mall Security Guard interrupted a conversation Snatchko was having with another individual and told him to quit talking to people and leave. When Snatchko laughed and claimed he wasn’t doing anything wrong or illegal, a second security guard joined them and told Snatchko that he was being put under citizen’s arrest for “trespassing”. The youth pastor then offered to leave peacefully, but was roughed up, cuffed and carted off to jail.

The DA’s office later evidently realized the arrest was unconstitutional and dropped the case.

I try to stay as far away from the Malls as I can. Gangs of young men (and women) cruise the malls looking for trouble. Their language is abusive. They’re rude. They’ll run over you rather than move out of your way, regardless of who has the right of way. I can’t remember the last time I read about the local police arresting some punk kid for shouting obscenities to someone who happened to look at them too long or dared to accidentally brush up against them.

A couple of questions beg to be asked.

How can one “trespass” at a public mall?
Why is obscenity acceptable in public, but the name of Jesus Christ is not?
Does laughing at a ridiculous accusation warrant rough handling and handcuffing?
Where is the ACLU?