First Amendment

Memphis Task Force Caught on Video Arresting Activist Already Suing It for First Amendment Retaliation

The ACLU says Hunter Demster's arrest shows a continuing campaign of intimidation and retaliation by the Memphis Safe Task Force.

C.J. Ciaramella | 9.17.2026 3:31 PM

Share on FacebookShare on XShare on RedditShare by emailPrint friendly versionCopy page URL Add Reason to Google

Media Contact & Reprint Requests

(ACLU/Youtube)

Newly released videos show a police task force in Memphis, Tennessee, arresting a well-known local activist who's also the lead plaintiff in a First Amendment lawsuit alleging illegal retaliation by the force.

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) says videos of the August 26 arrest of Hunter Demster by officers in the Memphis Safe Task Force, along with other recent instances of intimidation, are yet more evidence of a continuing harassment campaign against people who try to exercise their First Amendment right to record law enforcement in public.

The ACLU released the video, along with a declaration by Demster, as supplemental material in a lawsuit filed in mid-May alleging First Amendment retaliation by the Memphis Safe Task Force—a task force of local, state, and federal agencies that has occupied Memphis since last September at the order of President Donald Trump and Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee.

Demster, who cofounded a local group that monitors the task force's activities, and eight other Memphis residents allege in declarations that they have been violently arrested, surveilled at their houses, pulled over under false pretenses, and jailed for trying to film the force. The complaint alleges that agents also abuse Tennessee's "Halo Law," which bars bystanders from approaching within 25 feet of police and first responders when ordered to retreat, to threaten observers and stop them from........

© Reason.com