Denver activist Eric Brandt repeatedly arrested for cursing at police on sidewalks
Eric Brandt, a Denver-area First Amendment activist, was arrested multiple times between 2015 and 2018 for holding signs and shouting profanity at police officers. Federal courts repeatedly ruled the conduct constituted protected speech, awarding civil-rights damages.
Between 2015 and 2018, Eric Brandt — a self-described 'First Amendment auditor' in the Denver metropolitan area — was arrested on numerous occasions by Lakewood, Aurora, and Denver police for holding signs reading 'F*** Cops' and shouting profanity at officers on public sidewalks. In Brandt v. City of Westminster and related civil-rights suits, federal judges in the District of Colorado repeatedly held the speech was protected under Cohen v. California, 403 U.S. 15 (1971), denied qualified immunity, and approved settlements. Brandt was separately convicted in 2021 of soliciting the murder of state judges (an unrelated matter) and is currently imprisoned; the earlier sidewalk arrests remain frequently cited precedents on profanity directed at police.