Street preachers who were arrested and issued citations outside a Dallas Mavericks game are seeking legal action. A video shows members of the Dallas Police Department speaking with Landon Thurman and other members of his ministry, Testimonies of God, while they were preaching outside American Airlines Center before a Dallas Mavericks game on December 18. The ministry is described as a “Reformed Baptist evangelistic ministry committed to the supremacy of Scripture and the advancement of Christ’s Gospel.” According to Thurman, one of the members of his ministry, Will Dietrich, was preaching at the edge of the planter area by the sidewalk, using a loudspeaker. Senior Public Information Officer Corbin Rubinson stated that the area was private property, and the property owner issued a complaint to the department. “A nearby resident had asked the group to lower the volume, and officers also requested that the volume be reduced. During the interaction, several individuals attempted to antagonize the officers,” stated Rubinson.

Thurman was in a different area when Deitrich was approached by off-duty police officers who had been hired by a third party for protection. When he noticed the confrontation, he approached and the group was asked to take their belongings and move across the street. “I came up and said that was unlawful, we didn’t have to move from the public sidewalk to be forced to go across the street, and that we had a right to be there,” said Thurman. Dietrich was issued a noise violation, without a specific violation being written on the citation. The video shows officers, including Assistant Chief Richard Foy, handcuffing Thruman and Dietrich for officer safety. According to Rubinson, “Neither individual was arrested or formally taken into custody.” According to the department, the men were “temporarily detained” for officer safety. Thurman, however, states that Foy threatened them with arrest. “He sat us down [on] the ledge of the planter, threatening to take us to jail and spend the night there.” In the video, one of the men can be heard asking “So why am I being arrested, officer?” with the officer responding, “I told you to back off twice, and you didn’t do it.” The two were released after about thirty minutes.

Thurman has since obtained attorney Rob Hogan of Hogan Law, claiming the Department violating his group’s First Amendment rights. He told The Christian Post that he supported law enforcement but wanted the Constitution to be upheld. “We are not agitators, protesters, or criminals — we are Christians peacefully proclaiming the Gospel, seeking the good of our communities,” he said. “True transformation comes only by God’s grace, through the preaching of the Gospel. We desire cooperation, clarity and lawful engagement moving forward, not conflict.”

The video of the interaction went viral after it was shared by Libs of TikTok, which claimed that “Christians are being arrested in Dallas for exercising their 1st Amendment.” Don Keith, host of “The Real Beef with Don Keith,” warned that there needed to be consequences. He suggested that arrest was connected to claims that Dallas area is being “Islamized,” due to the number of mosques that are in the area. “As someone who spends a lot of time in The UK and talks with a lot of Brits, I can tell you, if the arrests of these Christian preachers in Dallas on a public sidewalk isn’t fully investigated and stiff consequences aren’t administered to the officers involved, then the trend will only get worse as America becomes more Islamized and Muslims gain positions of power,” he wrote.