Playlist
Activist James “James Freeman” Springer (Freeman) was trespassed from all public buildings in Lincoln County, New Mexico, on Thursday after an altercation at the Lincoln County sheriff’s office in Carrizozo, New Mexico.
Freeman had been in Lincoln County to investigate reports that a woman named Courtney who had previously turned a Lincoln County sheriff deputy in for improper behavior was wrongly arrested after a traffic stop the night before.
The YouTuber stormed into the building and attempted to confront the Lincoln County Records officer, who asked him if he was recording and left his window when Freeman aggressively told him that he was there to see Sheriff Michael Wood and to send him out immediately to test Wood’s “open door policy” that he advertised on Facebook.
Freeman aggressively wandered through the lobby of the sheriff’s office for several minutes until a detective came out and explained that Sheriff Wood was not in the building and that he wasn’t expected back. Upon hearing this, Freeman demanded the detective call Wood and tell him that “James was here” to speak to him.
After waiting several minutes, Sergeant Rex Beard approached Freeman and calmly repeated that the sheriff was not there and that he could not comment on the incident that sparked Freeman’s outrage as he was not present at the arrest.
Beard had made headway in calming down Freeman, now broadcasting before 2,000 followers, when the Lincoln County Undersheriff Geraldine Martinez came out and trespassed Freeman from the building.
An outraged Freeman stormed out of the building and aggressively drove to the Lincoln County detention center to check to see if Courtney had been released from the detention center. Upon entering the building, Freeman ignored the “no recording” and “no cellphone use” signs and began to make a scene in the lobby.
Freeman was confronted by warden Scott Colvin in two brief encounters, who asked him to step outside and abide by the guidelines of the facility. The YouTuber refused to leave the lobby and continued to record as he claimed that no one in the lobby cared if he recorded. Eventually, a woman spoke up and said she was uncomfortable with Freeman recording.
Before Freeman was able to respond to the woman, Sergeant Beard arrived on scene with the detective Freeman had encountered earlier. The men explained that Freeman was now trespassed from all Lincoln County public property, and he needed to leave the jail or face arrest.
Freeman extended the encounter by demanding to speak to the men outside of the property line of the detention center. He then demanded a written trespass notice as he claimed it was required by law. The detective left to check on that demand, and Freeman began to work on Beard.
The YouTuber attempted to sway Beard by reminding him it was an election year, and he was running for sheriff against Wood with 2,000 viewers watching his moves. He attempted to convince Beard to ignore the “illegal” directive, and promised to hold fundraisers for Beard if Beard were to lose his job. Beard refused Freeman’s influence and after receiving word that no written trespass was needed, made sure Freeman left the property after retrieving his car.
Freeman would later go live with Courtney and her attorney from a local diner. The trio promised federal civil rights lawsuits against Lincoln County that will be filed in the coming weeks. The YouTuber promised that he would now be staying in the area to focus on the Lincoln County sheriff’s office for the foreseeable future.
Donations Welcome
ReallyCoolNews is a free daily publication devoted to the First Amendment Auditing community. If you’d like to support the publication/help keep the author fed/help support his animals, we offer the following ways to contribute:
CashApp: https://cash.me/$reallycoolsite
Paypal: https://paypal.me/ReallyCoolSite?country.x=US&locale.x=en_US
GoFundMe: https://gofund.me/b8144e31
Critter Fund: https://www.amazon.com/registries/gl/guest-view/1GACKBD5N136L
Donations go towards keeping the lights on, feeding critters, improving the site and paying site hosting costs and future upgrades.
Share this:
- Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
- Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
- Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)
- Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window)
- Click to share on Tumblr (Opens in new window)
- Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window)
- Click to share on WhatsApp (Opens in new window)