Georgia Man Sues Glynn County Police After He Was Arrested for Refusing To Give ID

A Georgia man is suing the Glynn County Police Department after he was arrested for refusing to give them his name. The arrest lacked probable cause, an officer later wrote in an incident report.

Brunswick, Georgia, resident David Smiley filed a federal civil rights lawsuit on January 2 alleging that two Glynn County police officers violated his Fourth Amendment rights against unreasonable search and seizures when they arrested him on the night of December 5, 2023, for loitering and prowling. 

Smiley’s complaint is backed up by an authoritative source, the police incident report of his arrest, which says a supervisor “took a second look at the report and advised we had no probable cause.”

Smiley’s arrest and brief jailing is a relatively minor incident, but it is yet another alleged example of a common violation of a core civil liberty: the right to go about your business without having to show your papers to a nosy constable. Even in states that have “stop-and-identify” laws allowing police to demand identification, officers generally can’t do so unless they have reasonable suspicion of a crime. Last year, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit ruled that two Alabama police officers lacked probable cause to arrest an Alabama pastor who was watering his neighbor’s flowers and refused to give them his ID. In Oklahoma, two officers tackled a father who was taking a morning walk with his son after the father correctly asserted that he wasn’t required to show identification. In 2022, a pair of Florida sheriff’s deputies were demoted for arresting a legally blind man who lawfully refused to give his ID.

“We filed this action to protect other citizens against police misconduct regarding unlawful searches and seizures and to redress the very constitutional rights of Mr. Smiley that were violated,” says Roland Mumford, an attorney representing Smiley. “I hope this cause of action creates awareness to the public of the very rights that citizens enjoy that they do not have to produce identification to police absent reasonable articulable suspicion of a crime being committed or consent provided.”

Body camera footage of Smiley’s 2023 arrest shows that he was cleaning the light fixtures on the exterior of a grocery store with a broom at 12:30 a.m. when he was approached by two Glynn County police officers. Smiley told them he and his father were contracted by the store to clean the building exterior and parking lot, and he gave them a name for the company.

The officers then asked for Smiley’s name and ID. When Smiley asked why, one of the officers responded, “loitering and prowling,” noting that it was late and the store was closed.

“I’m working just like you guys,” Smiley said.

The officers told Smiley he’d be charged with loitering and prowling, a misdemeanor offense under Georgia’s code, unless he gave them his name and address.

When Smiley continued to insist that he’d done nothing illegal, the two officers handcuffed and arrested him.

Smiley’s girlfriend was also on the scene, and when she asked what was going on, the officers demanded her ID, too, also accusing her of loitering and prowling. (The woman is not a party in Smiley’s lawsuit, and her identity has been withheld due to privacy concerns.)

“Do y’all want me to call the person who hired him to do this job?” Smiley’s girlfriend asked.

“State your first name and last name, please, as well as your date of birth,” the officer responded.

Smiley’s girlfriend refused several times to give her name, and the officer handcuffed her as well.

However, several minutes later one of the officers announced he was “un-arresting” her for medical reasons after she eventually gave her name and disclosed that she had an insulin pump.

The incident report of Smiley’s arrest includes a supplement, written later the same day, stating that a supervisor reviewed the arrest and found no probable cause.

“Lt. Davis had took a second look at the report and advised we had no probable cause for Loitering and Prowling,” the officer wrote, “Lt. Davis told me to go drop the charge and take Mr. David Smiley to where he needs to go. I went to the Glynn County Detention Center around 0500 hrs to drop the charge where I was advised by the booking staff that he bonded out.”

The Glynn County Police Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

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