NEW ROCHELLE, NY — Sean-Paul Reyes, aged 30, from Brookhaven, NY, returned to City Hall today to file Notices of Claim against the City of New Rochelle and the City School District of New Rochelle for what he says are violations of his Constitutional rights.
The basis for the claims are contained in an edited video depiction of his experience last Monday, August 2, walking around New Rochelle City Hall with a body cam video camera on his chest and a second video camera in his hand.
Reyes is reportedly part of a social media group known as “First Amendment Audits” which record video inside public buildings.
The purpose of his recording appears to be multi-faceted: to provoke confrontations with public officials, security guards and police officers, expose violations of the U.S. Constitution, in particular the First Amendment and Fourth Amendment, create videos that both educate and entertain, gather news and information to disseminate to the public, generate page views and generate advertising revenue.
Some media outlets have implied that Reyes’ credibility is undermined because his reporting is done to generate advertising dollars, while ignoring the hypocrisy of that claim from media outlets which sell advertisements for profit in and around their reporting.
The real issue appears to be that some government officials, security guards and police officers dislike the nature of Reyes’ reporting and view his reporting as “anti-cop”.
In what can only be described as massive overkill, the response to Reyes roaming the hallways, stairwell and common areas of City Hall is 2 security guards, 7 police officers, 4 police vehicles, and three Assistant School Superintendents.
In the video, Assistant Superintendent for Business & Administration Greg Kern, Assistant Superintendent for Human Resources Dr. Corey W. Reynolds and Assistant Superintendent for Student Support Services Dr. Jackielyn Manning-Campbell can be seen physically obstructing Reyes from walking upstairs between the first and second floor.
Not addressed by Reyes or anyone appearing in the video is a key question: who controls what part of the building. Reyes appears unaware that City Hall is not simply a municipal office building. The building at 515 North Avenue, the former Albert Leonard High School, is owned by the City of New Rochelle and the entire building is managed by the City of New Rochelle. The building reverts automatically to school district control if the municipal government is no longer housed at the building. The school district occupies the 2nd flood and 3rd floor; the City government occupies the Ground floor and 1st floor.
No one from the City government is seen in the video asking Reyes to leave. It is Dr. Reynolds who first says, on camera, the police have been called (he later backtracks saying he “assumes” they have been called). Police officers and security guards later indicate it is the school district that made a complaint about Reyes.
Setting aside whether the school district has the legal authority to ask someone to leave the two floors they occupy, or whether any area of those two floors they occupy is considered accessible public space, there is a crucial question: If no one from the City government complained and the school district is a tenant on the upper two floors on what basis do school officials and police demand Reyes leaves the entire building?
A claim is made by Dr. Reynolds that he has “a right to feel safe” and this claim that Reyes had made people in the building “feel comfortable” is repeated by the police as justification for removing him from the building. There is no such thing as a “right to feel safe”.
More to the point, Reyes is not accused by anyone in the video of doing anything to threaten anyone or frighten anyone or otherwise harass anyone.
It would be helpful if there was a clarification on this issue which Talk of the Sound has experienced many times with regard to school board meetings and, more recently, in matters involving former Superintendent Dr. Laura Feijóo and former Head Football Coach Lou DiRienzo.
The only City employee seen talking other than police in the video is Deputy Finance Commissioner Ed Ritter on the Ground floor (Steve, the security guard, is employed by an agency hired by the City of New Rochelle).
A City employee covering for Steve at the security desk asks Reyes’ to sign a form with columns for name, signature, time, phone number or email address and where he is going.
There are signs posted stating that persons entering the building must wear a mask if they are not vaccinated (on the honor system) and a sign-in requirement for visitors which states visitors (as opposed to employees) “must sign in with your phone # and email address to enter the building for contact tracing purposes”.
Later in the video, much is made of the relationship between COVID-19 and the need to complete a sign-in sheet. To our knowledge, City Hall tightened up security after 9/11 in 2001 and the requirement to complete a sign-in sheet predates COVID-19 by almost two decades, but the policy is, currently, explicitly associated with the pandemic.
Reyes writes in “Good Citizen” under name, scribbles a signature, “12:15” under time, “Everywhere” under where he is going and a 9-digit number under phone number. He leaves email address blank. He is then allowed to enter the building.
Had Reyes provided a phone number or email address where he was reachable he would have a better argument on this point, but he indicates he made up a number, so he was not reachable and thus not compliant with the posted COVID-19 policy.
“The City of New Rochelle’s current policy requires presentation of a valid ID for entry into City Hall (as do most other governmental buildings). This gentleman refused to present such ID and as a result, appropriate action was taken”, said City Manager Charles B. Strome in a written statement.
There is no such “ID required” policy posted at the entrance at City Hall and the issue is not the “current policy” but the policy on August 2.
In the City accounting area, Ritter, a City employee asks Reyes to stop recording, asks who sent Reyes, who Reyes is, what company employs Reyes, who Reyes is recording for, but gives up when Reyes does not stop recording and does not answer questions saying “Just need to know who is in the building” then walks away.
The video depicts some other people but not all people he encountered, and some of where he entered but not all places he entered.
One sticking point is that, according to multiple sources, Reyes was on the third floor which houses offices for school psychologists, medical staff, pupil services and special education which deal with confidential matters involving children and parents —and children are coming and going from these offices. Reyes edited his visit to the 3rd floor out of the video and later, when he is accused of being in confidential areas of the building, denies it, either wittingly or unwittingly.
When asked for his name, he tells two employees on the 2nd floor his name is “Sean” but later declines to provide his name to school officials and police officers. Reyes does not explain the distinction between giving his first name, his full name or producing identification.
The key point Reyes wants to make is that he has a First Amendment right to record video anywhere he can see from a public area (true) and a Fourth Amendment right not to produce identification (maybe). His understanding of the law, and in particular Constitutional issues is limited which is to be expected given he says is education in Constitutional Law is gleaned primarily from watching YouTube videos.
Julie Perkins of NewsTimes in Connecticut reported on Reyes’s recording in Danbury and contacted the local ACLU chapter.
“Heck, if it does nothing other than make government employees aware that we the people have the right to observe that which is observable by the naked eye, it can’t be a bad thing from where we sit,” said Dan Barrett, legal director with the ACLU Connecticut.
Barrett claims individuals have the right to film in and from public places.
“Anywhere that you are allowed to be as a member of the public and anything you can see with your own eyes, it’s fair game,” he said.
However the Constitutional matters get sorted — Reyes said he planned to file lawsuits and Internal Affairs complaints, and he may win or may not or a little of both — the statements by District officials and police officers are disturbing and require some explanation.
We have made various media inquiries and FOIL requests to the City of New Rochelle, the New Rochelle Police Department and the City School District of New Rochelle and will update our reporting with any replies.
The most concerning statements are made by Dr. Reynolds, Sergeant Redner and Police Officer Jon Bulfamante.
Assistant Superintendent for Business & Administration Greg Kern
- complained that Reyes was recording in his office then when challenged by Reyes said he never said that (video shows Kern did say Reyes was recording in his office which Reyes denies).
Assistant Superintendent for Human Resources Dr. Corey W. Reynolds
- says police were called, but when challenged by Reyes, says he assumes that they have been called (false).
- in order to have business in the building, you have to have an appointment and a person with whom to have direct contact (false).
- building is a public building, but it is not open to the public (false).
- you have to have papers to be a journalist (false).
- I have a right to feel safe (false).
- says Sean has been going into confidential areas of the building (maybe).
Assistant Superintendent for Student Support Services, Dr. Jackielyn Manning-Campbell
- N/A
Steve
- COVID-19 protocols say you have to give your name (false).
New Rochelle Police Officer Bulfamante
- you must give ID to be in this building (false).
- you did not sign in (false).
- you bypassed security (false).
- do you have a press pass? (no agency in New Rochelle or Westchester County issues press passes).
- why were you standing outside the bathroom? (setting aside the innuendo, Reyes’s denies doing so).
New Rochelle Police Sergeant Redner
- we should have the right to know what your story is about (false).
- could be arrested for trespassing for going into unauthorized areas, especially after leaving fake information (maybe).
- this is a facility with closed areas that you’re probably trying to get into (unknowable).
- it’s not (a public building) you have to provide your name (false).
- bloggers do not have the same rights as actual press (setting aside there is no such thing as “actual press, and terms like “bloggers” and “actual press” are meaningless terms, the Bill of Rights limits what the government can do (including police officers) not what U.S. citizens can do)
- you made them feel uncomfortable (irrelevant),
School Security Guard
- this is private property, do you know what private property is? (false).
- you have to wear mask (false).
- show me your vaccinated (not required).
- everyone has to provide ID (false).
There is a lot of nonsense and outright falsehoods in the above statements, and suggests those depicted in the video would benefit from training on the points of law and policy they are fumbling to address.
Reyes primary point is that he has a First Amendment right to record anything he can see from any public area in City Hall. He is entirely correct on this point.
Reynolds, Bulfamante and Redner have a severely warped notion of the First Amendment which covers five freedoms not one and describes what the government cannot do not what citizens cannot do. The Five Freedoms enshrined in the First Amendment are Freedom of Religion, Freedom to Petition the Government, Freedom of Assembly, Freedom of Speech and Freedom of the Press.
Reyes is raising (and conflating) issues of the latter two freedoms: Freedom of Speech and Freedom of the Press.
Neither Reyes, Reynolds, Redner nor Bulfamante have a coherent understanding of Freedom of Speech or Freedom of the Press.
Freedom of Speech encompasses the ideas contained in Freedom of the Press but Freedom of the Press addresses the publishing of information. Setting aside a discourse on these Constitutional issues, it is frightening to hear senior-level educators and law enforcement officers talk about journalists needing to “carry papers” or have some sort of government approval to be a journalist.
The courts have a simple test: is the person gathering news and information to disseminate to the public. If so, the person is a journalist regardless of a license from a government agency or employment by a company or the opinions of a cop or school administrator.
Dr. Reynolds says, “you have to have papers to be a journalist”. Bulfamante asks if Reyes has a “press pass”. Redner says, “bloggers do not have the same rights as actual press”.
There is no such thing as “actual press”, if by that Redner means a police officer or government agency decides who is a journalist.
Redner complains, “we should have the right to know what your story is about”.
Actually, no, not in the United States at least.
The implication is that is the government knows what a story is about they can take steps to interfere with the story’s publication, which the courts have addressed often. Prior restraint is not allowed except if publishing information is a threat to national security.
A report by The Center for International Media Assistance which examined licensing of journalists worldwide concluded “to the extent government licensing policies interfere with a free press, they also damage freedom of expression.”
Many autocratic rulers use the licensing of journalists to control what their citizens can know. It is a form of censorship popular in certain countries in Asia, the Middle East, and Latin America.
Licensing continues to thrive as one way (among many) used by governments to control the press. An examination of regulatory practices in more than 100 developed and developing countries found that in at least one out of every four, governments have a role in licensing—that is, in approving who can work as a journalist and who can not. In some cases governments merely set parameters for the job—minimum age, education level and national origin of prospective journalists. In others, governments explicitly issue press cards only to journalists certified to follow the official line.
New Rochelle is not North Korea, Cuba, Saudi Arabia or Russia and anyone here imagining that their policies on speech and the press ought to exist in the United States is deeply concerning.
The most likely outcome of the video will be for the City and school district to post new signs in City Hall that address the “loopholes” exploited by Reyes.
A better outcome would be to require training for those in the video making belligerently ignorant statements and to clarify which agencies controls what part of the building and for each agency to post those policies so everyone, including Mr. Reyes, can see them and, if anyone disagrees, they can take the matter up with a judge.
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I assume you work? What would happen in today’s climate if one of the jackass know it all cops arrested you on what he believed? Even if you’re self employed, who’s looking after your interests while you’re in jail? Making bond for something you didn’t do? Some of these people are trying to educate people on this situation. Obviously police academy isn’t the answer. Cops mostly are not accepting of the fact they are wrong because to do so is perceived as “losing control “ of a situation. You should thank these people for standing up for your rights. You’re welcome
It is clear that the school system does not understand Freedom Of Speech and this is very troublesome because students have First Amendment rights and this suggests school leadership would not respect them too.
It has also been clear for at least 20 years that City Hall is unwelcoming to the public. There was a time when they required showing ID for entry and this was very unwelcoming and may have limited public access.
Watching to the end was the cherry on top because the police were clueless to any and all amendments. It just goes to show where and how our tax dollars are being spent recklessly on who they hire, mostly nepotism.
Besides, education in America is futile. Last time I checked we ranked #30. #robcoxtheGOAT
It’s a public building…. what more is there to say???? We have rights in this country ….
I am sure all of that is covered In the Six months of police training and no training for BOE security officers, unless your someone’s cousin….
I would not feel comfortable with someone recording in my work environment. Not a good call. Also, anyone can walk into New Ro City Hall with a gun. There is no screening for firearms like at the police station. Journalist is being annoying.
Good thing you do not work in a government job where it is not “your work environment” but rather “the people’s house.
The incident highlighted the security issues I have raised many, many times. The school district does not have secure buildings because they do not want security
A frustrated would-be-journalist dork with a camera, looking to deploy his verbal skills on YouTube.
What kind of moron would watch this boring circular argument to it’s end? Go to Law School, get a license, do it for real. Your welcome.