Naked Hillsboro, Oregon Violinist Matthew T. Mglej Sues Police for Over $1M, Claims He Was Starved, Had His Wrists Cut
A man from Hillsboro, Oregon, is seeking up to $1.1 million in a lawsuit against police after his arrest.
Last year, a creative protester got naked and played the violin, New York Daily News reports. When police responded to complaints of a naked man playing the violin near the federal courthouse in Portland, the arrest process apparently was not smooth.
Matthew T. Mglej says in the lawsuit that his wrists were cut, and he was called names by the jail deputies in Multnomah County. The suit says he was called a "cry baby" and not given any food or water for the day he spent in the holding cell.
Mglej was playing the violin, meditating and quoting former Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad before police were called to break up the display. Once they arrived, Mglej was quoting the Oregon Constitution and said he had the right to be there, protesting naked.
Mglej is now saying his First Amendment rights were violated and that police used excessive force when they arrested him.
Police say they arrested him for indecent exposure for being naked in public. They added they had to carry him to the police car when he refused to walk to it.
Mglej will face the indecent exposure charges Feb. 17. He has plead not guilty to the charges.
In Portland's city code, it says it is "unlawful for any person to expose his or her genitalia while in a public place or place visible from a public place, if the public place is open or available to persons of the opposite sex."
The lawsuit was filed Jan. 20 in U.S. District Court.
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