Traveling evangelists sue Denver officials for halting anti-abortion protest

By The Associated Press

05.23.01

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DENVER — Three Christian evangelists have filed a lawsuit alleging that the city of Denver violated their First Amendment rights when police forced them to stop an anti-abortion demonstration.

The three men, itinerant evangelists who protest against abortion across the nation, were approached by police after holding a rally on the Auraria campus and arguing with students.

Named in the suit filed May 18 are Mayor Wellington Webb, Denver Police Chief Gerald Whitman and Auraria campus police chief Joe Ortiz.

The evangelists claim that a city ordinance banning people from disturbing activities or students on campus or loitering on campus without some lawful business is overly broad and violates the Constitution.

The plaintiffs are Charles Spingola, of Newark, Ohio; Daniel Holman, of West Allis, Wis.; and Robert Enyart, of Denver. They claim that Denver Municipal Code Section 38-94 "restrains and curtails specific oral speech in a quintessential public forum."

According to police reports, the three were demonstrating with posters and a Bible on campus space shared by Metropolitan State College of Denver and the University of Colorado at Denver on Oct. 2, 2000. Spingola was arrested and the other two left after police told them they could not protest there. The three men returned two days later.

Spingola was then arrested after the three argued with a crowd of about 100 students, some of whom began throwing objects at them. A campus official said the demonstration had to be stopped for safety.

Charges against Spingola were later dismissed. The suit asks that the city ordinance be repealed and the three be given unspecified damages.