Attorneys for a woman arrested in 2020 just prior to then-President Donald Trump’s rally in downtown Tulsa can depose Mayor G.T. Bynum as part of a civil lawsuit filed by the woman, a judge has ruled.
U.S. Magistrate Susan E. Huntsman wrote in an opinion and order filed Thursday in Tulsa federal court that attorneys for Sheila Buck could question the mayor for up to four hours as part of the lawsuit discovery process.
Attorneys for the city had sought a protective order prohibiting the deposition, citing a number of factors.
But Huntsman, in her 10-page ruling, said Buck’s attorneys have the right to question the mayor about certain matters relative to her case.
“While the Mayor has no ‘first-hand information about (Buck’s) arrest,’ quoting from the city’s own legal briefs, he appears to have first-hand knowledge of — at a minimum — the development (or not) of a City policy as alleged in Plaintiff’s complaint,” Huntsman wrote.
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Police arrested Buck on June 20, 2020, just prior to Trump’s campaign rally at the BOK Center.
Buck, who had a ticket to the rally, was asked to leave after clearing a security screening and entering a secured zone outside the arena but still on a city street, according to court records.
Buck was wearing all black clothing that included a T-shirt that read “I Can’t Breathe,” a reference to some of George Floyd’s final words spoken before he was murdered by a police officer in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on May 25, 2020.
The Trump campaign’s private security service first requested that Buck leave the secured area, according to court records.
Buck refused the request and reportedly knelt to pray on Denver Avenue, according to court records.
Buck was told that “the blocks around the city-owned arena are ‘like a private home, and if you’ve been asked to leave, you have to leave,’” according to court records.
Sheila Buck, who came to notoriety when she was arrested at President Donald Trump’s Tulsa rally, is arraigned on obstruction charge. Her hearing is set for February 2021.
Two Tulsa police officers then apprehended Buck and took her to jail, telling her that she was trespassing and breaking the law, according to court records.
Buck still faces a misdemeanor charge of obstructing an officer in Tulsa County District Court, records indicate.
She initially filed her lawsuit July 20, 2021, in Tulsa County District Court. The case was removed by the city of Tulsa on July 31, 2021, to the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Oklahoma.
In her lawsuit, Buck claims that the city violated her constitutional rights during her attendance prior to the rally.
Specifically, she claims that Tulsa police “approved of an unconstitutional arresting policy in accordance with the wishes of the Trump Campaign … (that is,) TPD professedly approved of and operated under an absolute policy of removing and arresting individuals, without question or regard for constitutional rights, at the simple behest of the Trump Campaign.”
Buck’s lawsuit also alleges that the event did not have the required city special event permit required to block off city streets for private purposes, nor could it, as such applications must be filed 45 days prior to any event.
But attorneys for the city claimed that because the mayor was not present when Buck was arrested, he “has no relevant information that cannot be ascertained elsewhere.”
“This argument, however, focuses on the wrong period of time,” Huntsman wrote.
Two days before the rally, Bynum issued an executive order noting an establishment of a “federal exclusion zone,” declaring a civil emergency and setting a curfew for the blocks surrounding the BOK Center, according to court records.
Bynum then rescinded the executive order the next day after talking personally to Trump, according to Huntsman’s ruling.
Buck claims in her lawsuit that Tulsa police had a policy of removing individuals from a public city street at the direction of a private organization and that such policy was implemented without regard to her right to be on the street, her First Amendment rights, or whether there was probable cause to seize, remove or arrest her, according to court records.
Her ruling quoted from a Tulsa police lieutenant who has testified that within a “sterile area” inside the secure zone, if Trump Campaign members asked to have people removed because of their attire or protesting, the Tulsa Police Department’s operating practice was to ask such persons to leave and, if they did not, arrest them.
“It is reasonable to believe the Mayor has information relevant to whether such a policy or custom existed,” Huntsman wrote in clearing the way for him to be deposed.
“Moreover, the Mayor is the only city employee known to have been on the telephone call with President Trump that purportedly led to a change in the city’s security approach,” Huntsman wrote. “The Mayor’s discussion with President Trump, the decisions he made, and his communications with TPD — all could easily have a tendency to make it more or less probable that the City had the unconstitutional policy alleged in the complaint.”
The judge brushed away claims by the city that a four-hour deposition would pose an “undue burden” and bordered on “sheer harassment.”
“While this Court is cognizant that the Mayor has a busy schedule and numerous obligations, it does not find the request for a four-hour deposition to be harassing or in excess of the needs of this case,” Huntsman wrote.
A city spokesman declined to comment on the ruling, citing the city’s longstanding practice of not commenting on pending litigation.
curtis.killman@tulsaworld.com
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