First Amendment
Panhandler Gets Arrest Tossed
Posted May 31, 2007, 10:51 am CST
By Debra Cassens Weiss
A city court judge in New Rochelle, N.Y., has found the arrest of a panhandler violated his free speech rights.
Eric Hoffstead had asked his lawyer to challenge his arrest after reading about a 1992 federal judge’s ruling that struck down a ban on panhandling.
The court also tossed a drug possession charge against Hoffstead, since it resulted from a search after the illegal arrest, according to the New York Times. Hoffstead still faces an unrelated trespassing charge.
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