{"id":1857,"date":"2025-10-15T15:16:17","date_gmt":"2025-10-15T15:16:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/1857\/"},"modified":"2025-10-15T15:16:17","modified_gmt":"2025-10-15T15:16:17","slug":"allentown-officers-face-lawsuit-after-threats-charges-against-resident","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/1857\/","title":{"rendered":"Allentown, officers face lawsuit after threats, charges against resident"},"content":{"rendered":"

ALLENTOWN, Pa. \u2014 An Allentown police officer drove his patrol SUV at a resident who was filming him in public last spring \u2014 one of a series of \u201cobvious First Amendment violations\u201d by officers, a recently filed civil rights lawsuit alleges.<\/p>\n

Phillip Rishel on Wednesday sued the city, retired Officer Dean Flyte and Sgt. Christopher Stephenson, saying they violated his constitutional rights last spring.<\/p>\n

The suit says Rishel was filming outside Allentown Police Department\u2019s substation at 10th and Hamilton streets on March 26, 2024, when Flyte approached him and showed a \u201cNo Trespassing\u201d sign near the entrance to the parking garage.<\/p>\n

Rishel and Flyte exchanged words before the officer walked away, the lawsuit alleges. About 10 minutes later, Flyte drove his SUV out of the garage and drove toward Rishel on the sidewalk while \u201cblaring the car\u2019s siren,\u201d it says.<\/p>\n

The SUV hit the entrance to the garage, and \u201cRishel laughed and ridiculed Officer Flyte,\u201d according to the suit.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut he stopped laughing \u2014 and started running \u2014 when Officer Flyte backed the car up, completed the turn and drove on the sidewalk straight at Rishel,\u201d the lawsuit states.<\/p>\n

Flyte then drove his car around a light pole on the sidewalk and continued driving toward Rishel until a concrete planter blocked his path, Rishel alleges in the suit.<\/p>\n

The now-retired officer went inside and got Stephenson. While the sergeant inspected damage from the collision, Flyte said he would arrest Rishel for loitering, according to the suit.<\/p>\n

And Stephenson threatened to ban Rishel from the public sidewalk outside the substation, the suit alleges.<\/p>\n

\u201cFilming is not a First Amendment right,\u201d Stephenson says in a video Rishel posted online of his interactions with police<\/a> on March 26 and 27, 2024.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne more time for the cameras,\u201d Rishel replies.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is not a First Amendment right. It is not observed by Pennsylvania law,\u201d Stephenson says in the video.<\/p>\n

Stephenson and Flyte were later backed up by other officers during their dispute with Rishel, who left the area, according to the lawsuit.<\/p>\n

Charged; conviction overturned<\/p>\n

Rishel alleges he was not allowed to file a formal complaint against Flyte later that day at Allentown Police Department\u2019s headquarters on Hamilton Street.<\/p>\n

He returned to the substation the next day and \u201cpicked up where he left off, using his cell phone to film what he could see in plain view,\u201d the suit states.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese officers have a disdain for the rights of the people they\u2019re sworn to protect \u2014 and I hope my lawsuit changes things for the better.”<\/p>\n

Phillip Rishel, who sued Allentown and two officers<\/p>\n

Rishel left after again being threatened with arrest by Stephenson and another sergeant, according to the suit.<\/p>\n

Rishel was charged March 28, 2024, with two counts of disorderly conduct and a single count of loitering.<\/p>\n

He was convicted of loitering, but that conviction was overturned upon appeal; Lehigh County courts dismissed the disorderly conduct charges against him.<\/p>\n

‘Huge issue with the culture’ at APD: Rishel<\/p>\n

Rishel in February provided a video of his self-described protests outside city police building in March 2024 to Lackluster Media, which posted it on its YouTube channel, the suit states.<\/p>\n

The video, titled \u201cTriggered Tyrants Try Every Trick \u2014 Lawsuit Incoming,\u201d<\/a> has more than 1 million views.<\/p>\n

The Allentown Police Department has paid out more than $2 million to settle claims of police misconduct over the past decade, including at least three six-figure payouts.<\/p>\n

Lawsuit against Allentown police<\/p>\n

Rishel \u2014 in a news release from the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, which helped him file the suit \u2014 said he believes \u201cthere is a huge issue with the culture of the Allentown Police Department.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThese officers have a disdain for the rights of the people they\u2019re sworn to protect \u2014 and I hope my lawsuit changes things for the better,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

His lawsuit asks a Lehigh County judge to award compensatory and punitive damages against Flyte, Stephenson and the city. <\/p>\n

It also seeks an injunction blocking the city and its employees from restricting Rishel\u2019s rights to protest and film on public sidewalks.<\/p>\n

And Rishel wants a judge to order Allentown police officers undergo training on people\u2019s First Amendment rights, including their right to film cops in public.<\/p>\n

Allentown Police Department has paid more than $2 million to settle claims of police misconduct over the past decade, including at least three six-figure payouts, according to the suit. <\/p>\n

Genesis Ortega, Allentown\u2019s communications manager, did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the lawsuit.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ALLENTOWN, Pa. \u2014 An Allentown police officer drove his patrol SUV at a resident who was filming him…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1858,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[119,1776,1780,1781,1782,121,1777,120,715,1778,1779,1783],"class_list":["post-1857","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-allentown","tag-allentown","tag-allentown-civil-rights-lawsuit","tag-allentown-cop-chases-person","tag-allentown-cop-lawsuit","tag-allentown-first-amendment-lawsuit","tag-allentown-headlines","tag-allentown-lawsuit","tag-allentown-news","tag-allentown-police","tag-allentown-police-lawsuit","tag-lawsuit-lehigh-valley","tag-lehigh-valley-cop-lawsuit"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1857","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1857"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1857\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1858"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1857"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1857"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1857"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}