Two people arrested during the April protests against Israel's war in Gaza at Ohio State University have filed a lawsuit against university president Ted Carter and university police officer Susan Liu.
Sumaya Hamadmad, a researcher at Ohio State's College of Medicine, and Curtis Peace, a 2021 OSU alumnus, are the plaintiffs in the case. Both were arrested on the campus' South Oval on April 25 after a separate group of 40 people attempted to set up a tent there that morning.
The two were charged with criminal trespassing that morning, hours before hundreds of other protesters arrived at the same location that evening. About 40 people were arrested that evening after Ohio State police and Franklin County law enforcement broke up the protest.
The charges against Peace, Hamadmad and many other protestors were dismissed in court. OSU officials, including Carter, justified the arrests by saying the demonstrations violated university space-use rules because some protesters put up tents.
Liu is the arresting officer in the case.
Both Peace and Hamadmad said in their lawsuits Carter and Liu violated their first and fourth amendment rights. They also claimed the university
falsely arrested them and they did not set up tents and encampments on the South Oval.
Hamadmad said Ohio State police had ordered that all camping equipment be taken down on the South Oval, and protesters complied. That was before Hamadmad said she arrived. Hamadmad said she arrived an hour later and sat on a bench, but switched to sitting on the grass with two other individuals.
The group of three didn't have signs and did not actively protest. Hamadmad was wearing a black headscarf and another person with her was wearing a keffiyeh 鈥� a garment often worn by people supporting the Palestinian cause.
According to the lawsuit, police ordered the three people to disperse and talked to the three for about 10 minutes before arresting Hamadmad. Her lawsuit said she told the officers she was not engaging in any disruptive activity and questioned the officer about why she had to leave.
According to his lawsuit, Peace arrived at the South Oval and joined with protesters who held posters and sat quietly to express their criticism of Ohio State and Israel. The lawsuit said the protesters that set up tents earlier were already taking them down.
Police told Peace and the others to disperse. Peace decided to film the interaction. He continued to film the police after the others had dispersed and was then arrested shortly after, according to the lawsuit.
Both lawsuits argue Ohio State sought to maliciously prosecute Peace and Hamadmad because the charges were ultimately dismissed. They also claim their Ffirst aAmendment rights were violated because OSU retained and exercised sole discretion to close the South Oval to peaceful and nondisruptive expressive and associational activity on a matter of public concern.
They also argue their arrests were retaliatory by engaging in viewpoint-focused censorship that violated the First Amendment.
Peace and Hamadmad want $75,000 each and for a court to restrict Ohio State from using its space rules to limit protests on the South Oval.
The university declined to comment on the lawsuit.
