Des Moines paying $125,000 to man detained for filming police parking illegally

The city of Des Moines is paying a $125,000 settlement to a man who was detained by police for recording video outside the police station, court records show.

Daniel Robbins, a radio producer, sued the city in 2018 after he was confronted while filming officers parking in front of no-parking signs around the downtown police headquarters. Officers told him he was behaving "suspiciously" and detained him, although ultimately he was allowed to leave without a citation. Police kept his phone and camera, however, returning them only after Robbins' attorney demanded them almost two weeks later.

The case had been scheduled to go to trial last month, but the parties told the judge a settlement was in the works. The case was formally dismissed Nov. 9.

Previously:Courts rule Des Moines police violated rights in two cases, side with police in a third

Robbins' attorney provided documents confirming the amount of the settlement as $125,000 but declined to comment on the case. City leaders said the decision to settle the case came after an unfavorable ruling earlier this year from a federal appellate court.

"The city won this case at the district court level, which was ultimately reversed by a panel of Eighth Circuit judges," City Manager Scott Sanders said in a statement. "While the city disagrees with the panel’s determination, it also respects the judicial process and decided to settle the case and move forward."

First, Fourth Amendment claims in lawsuit

According to the original lawsuit, Robbins was on East Second Street on May 10, 2018, when he saw a police employee exit the station, get in an illegally parked vehicle and drive away. Robbins began filming and was approached by an officer who told him he was being "a little suspicious" and that he was taking pictures of officers' personal vehicles. Robbins refused to give his name or ID to officers, who eventually confiscated his camera and phone and patted him down, before allowing him to leave.

Officers at the time told Robbins there had been cars stolen from the lot next to the police station, and were also mindful of the then-recent murders of two police officers by a man who also reportedly took videos of officers and tracked their movements before ambushing them in November 2016, according to court filings.

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"We had a civilian female employee getting into her personal car when she saw a guy videotaping her," DMPD spokesman Sgt. Paul Parizek told the Register in 2018. "Obviously for reasons that are self-explanatory that made her very uncomfortable."

Robbins' lawsuit, filed months later, accused the officers of unlawfully retaliating against protected First Amendment activity and of detaining him and seizing his property without a warrant or probable cause.

City wins, then loses, in court

The city argued in court the officers were entitled to qualified immunity, meaning they cannot be held liable for any alleged rights violation unless that right has been "clearly established" by prior case law. Initially, they were successful, and a federal district judge dismissed the case.

Senior Judge Charles Wolle ruled in 2019 that officers were justified in investigating Robbins' actions and that Robbins had "ample opportunity to allay the officers' suspicion."

From 2019:Judge dismisses lawsuit alleging Des Moines police illegally detained a man who was recording them

But a federal appellate panel saw the matter differently. The judges ruled in January that while the officers had grounds to investigate Robbins, they were not authorized to arrest him and seize his electronic devices. There was no evidence Robbins was blocking the sidewalk or disrupting activity at the police station, meaning he could not have been cited under Des Moines' loitering ordinance, and seizing his items for more than a week went far beyond any reasonable investigative stop, the court ruled.

Dickey told the Register after the appellate decision that the case spotlighted an individual's right to take pictures in public, and to refuse to answer questions from police.

"He’s got a right to tell police to go pound sand, which is what he did," Dickey said in January. "'I don’t have to answer your questions, I’ve done nothing wrong, I’m taking pictures of the market area, get lost.'"

The appellate court did affirm qualified immunity for the officers on Robbins' First Amendment claims, but sent the case back for further proceedings on allegations the police violated his Fourth Amendment rights. In August, a different federal judge ruled the officers were not entitled to qualified immunity, clearing the path for trial.

Instead the settlement, which notes that both sides will pay their own court and attorney fees, means all Robbins' claims are fully resolved.

William Morris covers courts for the Des Moines Register. He can be contacted at wrmorris2@registermedia.com, 715-573-8166 or on Twitter at @DMRMorris.

This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Man detained while making video of illegal police parking gets $125,000