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These screengrabs show the arrest of Commissioner Niki Frenchko of Trumbull County, Ohio. She was arrested during a commissioners meeting in July 2022 because officials deemed her disruptive. She sued Trumbull County and the sheriff’s office in April 2023. A judge ruled the arrest violated Frenchko’s First Amendment rights. (Niki Frenchko’s Facebook page)

A federal judge has ruled that county officials and the sheriff’s department violated the free speech rights of an elected county commissioner from Ohio when they arrested her during a public meeting.

The arrest happened in July 2022 during a Trumbull County Commissioners meeting after deputies deemed Commissioner Niki Frenchko was being disruptive and took her into custody on a charge of disturbing a lawful meeting.

In a ruling filed Wednesday, federal Judge J. Philip Calabrese determined Frenchko’s arrest violated the First Amendment and qualified immunity did not apply to those named in her lawsuit, meaning they could be sued for monetary damages.

“Here in America, we do not arrest our political opponents,” Calabrese wrote. “This case tests that longstanding norm as well as our Constitution’s robust protections for free speech that allow us to criticize our representatives and public officials.”

Frenchko, the lone Republican on the three-person board, has been a controversial figure pretty much since her election in 2020: Officials questioned if she met the residency requirement after she won office, one commissioner derided Frenchko as “this lady” during a meeting, and the three commissioners often argued during the meetings, according to the judge’s ruling.

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