The American Civil Liberties Union of Massachusetts filed Glik v. Cunniffe in the District of Massachusetts on Feb. 1, along with Boston attorney Howard Friedman.
Glik was arrested in October 2007 after openly using his cellphone to record police allegedly using force during a Boston arrest. The Boston Municipal Court threw out the case after four months. The lawsuit says Glik is suing the city for "failing to properly train Boston police officers that they cannot arrest people for openly making video or audio recordings of their conduct in public."
The suit also claims the city "failed to supervise and discipline" Boston police officers to ensure that they made arrests that complied with the state's unlawful wiretap statute. The defendants include the city, police sergeant John Cunniffe, police officer Peter Savalis and police officer Hall-Brewster, whose first name is unknown to the plaintiffs. When law enforcement officials falsely arrest legal professionals they're going to be sued endlessly and in their individual capacity for millions of dollars.