Lindsay Davis-Knotts (@lindsaydavisknotts) / Instagram
CV NEWS FEED // A pro-life activist protesting outside an Ohio abortion facility was detained by police Dec. 28 and charged with disorderly conduct on account of the volume of the megaphone the activist was using to provide a Christian witness to the women entering the facility.
Live Action reported that Zack Knotts stood on a public sidewalk in Cuyahoga Falls and used the megaphone to tell women, “There’s hope in the Gospel of Jesus Christ for all of you. I want it for you but I can’t force you to take it and he won’t force you to take it. But you will have to stand before Holy God one day and answer for it. I love you enough to tell you the truth. Jesus Christ came to Earth to save sinners like you.”
According to a video of the conflict posted on Instagram by Knotts’ wife, Lindsay Davis-Knotts, police then approached Knotts and ordered him to go with them, initially refusing to tell him why. When Knotts insisted on being told the reason, the officers stated it was on account of his “disorderly conduct” that had caused them to receive complaints of him causing “inconvenience, annoyance, or alarm” to those around him.
“The charge was based on the claim that my preaching ‘annoyed’ passerby’s [sic], which is an entirely subjective basis for restricting free speech,” Knotts told Live Action via email. “This action was taken despite my clear constitutional right to free speech and religious expression, and we firmly believe it violates my First and Fourth Amendment rights.”
His actions reportedly violated the city’s disorderly conduct ordinance, which bans individuals from generating “unreasonable noise or loud sound which is likely to cause inconvenience or annoyance to persons of ordinary sensibilities” by using electronics, sound amplifying devices, musical instruments, or other tools.
Knotts told Live Action that the ordinance “has no objective standard and allows for enforcement based purely on personal annoyance.” He added that similar cases have previously been struck down by the Supreme Court.
In the video, police ordered Knotts into the back of the police car, while another clip apparently taken by Knotts shows him explaining the Christian basis for his actions to the policeman and promising to sue.
The video later shows Knotts exiting the police car. In the caption of the video posted to her Instagram, Davis-Knotts posted that the police told her husband that he would be jailed if he went back to evangelizing outside the abortion facility.
Knotts appeared in court Jan. 2 and pleaded not guilty, Davis-Knotts announced in a separate post. She wrote that “we are taking this fight to trial.”
She added, “We’re standing firm, not just for our rights, but for the voiceless image bearers we fight to defend in addition to the rights of anyone who values the Truth, life, and the Constitution.”
