UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE SIXTH CIRCUIT

┐ MICHAEL ANDREW WOOD, │ Plaintiff-Appellant, │ │ No. 20-3599 v. > │ │ CHAD EUBANKS, in his individual and official capacity │ as Sergeant of the Clark County Sheriff’s Department; │ MARIO TROUTMAN, JR., CHERISH STEIGER, MATTHEW │ YATES, JACOB SHAW, and JOSEPH JOHNSON, in their │ individual and official capacities as Deputies of the │ Clark County Sheriff’s Office, │ Defendants-Appellees. │ ┘

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Southern District of Ohio at Dayton. No. 3:18-cv-00168—Thomas M. Rose, District Judge.

Argued: November 2, 2021

Decided and Filed: February 8, 2022

Before: GUY, GIBBONS, and GRIFFIN, Circuit Judges.

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COUNSEL ARGUED: Sara Elizabeth Coulter, CASE WESTERN RESERVE UNIVERSITY, Cleveland, Ohio, for Appellant. Andrew N. Yosowitz, TEETOR WESTFALL, LLC, Columbus, Ohio, for Appellees. David J. Carey, AMERICAN CIVIL LIBERTIES UNION OF OHIO FOUNDATION, Columbus, Ohio, for Amicus Curiae. ON BRIEF: Lynnette Dinkler, DINKLER LAW OFFICE, LLC, Dayton, Ohio, for Appellant. Andrew N. Yosowitz, TEETOR WESTFALL, LLC, Columbus, Ohio, for Appellees. David J. Carey, AMERICAN CIVIL LIBERTIES UNION OF OHIO FOUNDATION, Columbus, Ohio, Elizabeth Bonham, Freda J. Levenson, AMERICAN CIVIL LIBERTIES UNION OF OHIO FOUNDATION, Cleveland, Ohio, for Amicus Curiae. No. 20-3599 Wood v. Eubanks, et al. Page 2

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OPINION _________________

JULIA SMITH GIBBONS, Circuit Judge. Michael Wood wore a shirt bearing the words “Fuck the Police” to the county fair. According to Wood, the defendant police officers ordered him to leave and escorted him from the fairgrounds because of his shirt. While leaving, Wood made his displeasure known through numerous coarse insults levied at the police and the fairground’s administrator. The defendants then arrested Wood for disorderly conduct. After the charges were dismissed, Wood filed this § 1983 action against the officers, alleging false arrest and retaliation. The district court granted summary judgment to the defendants. We reverse because Wood’s speech was protected by the First Amendment.

I.

On July 29, 2016, Michael Wood went to the Clark County Fair wearing a shirt that said “Fuck the Police.” Wood explained that he “wore the shirt because [he] ha[s] the constitutional right to do so.” DE 55-2, Wood Dep., Page ID 465. While Wood had “no ill will or ill intent against law enforcement in general,” he took issue with how some of the county’s officers had treated him in the past. Id. Specifically, he said that Sergeant Chad Eubanks had previously stopped him for a traffic infraction and said “something along the lines of, ‘I’ll mess you up.’” Id. He also stated that he believed the Clark County Sheriff’s Office was “a cesspool” because so many officers who “were not honorable servants” had been fired and “more exist[ed]” in the department. Id. at 4