|
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...
|
by WILL FOLKS
***
I’ve previously waxed extensive about the viral 2025 arrest of über-wealthy Charleston, South Carolina trial lawyer and perpetual Democrat candidate Mullins McLeod.
My takeaway from McLeod’s arrest (and his subsequent gaslighting of the Palmetto State’s electorate)?
This guy is dangerously delusional…
“McLeod has engaged in a coordinated campaign of gaslighting and faux populism – insisting he is the focus of a massive conspiracy aimed at silencing his populist appeal,” I noted earlier this year.
To recap: Days before he was initially supposed to launch his gubernatorial campaign, FITSNews exclusively reported that McLeod had been arrested by officers of the Charleston Police Department (CPD) near the city’s historic battery.
According to CPD’s incident report (.pdf), the well-heeled attorney was “screaming” while “wearing only his underwear and shoes” prior to his arrest for disorderly conduct. When officers attempted to ascertain the reason for his bizarre behavior he “began yelling louder and locking out his arms.”
Asked for his name, McLeod said he was “God” and “Superman” – and upon his arrival at the local detention center he “continued to ramble incoherently and at one point lashed out and kicked another prisoner,” police alleged.
While the incident report of McLeod’s arrest was bad, the subsequent release of the dashcam video from his arrest was positively damning… featuring the candidate conversing with dead lawyers, berating police, dropping the N-word and threatening his Republican rivals in the race for governor.
Take a look…
***
***
Rather than take ownership of his actions, McLeod launched a months-long blame offensive – insisting he was the victim of police persecution.
Now, McLeod and Nicholas A. Charles – an attorney at his Charleston, S.C.-based firm – have filed a lawsuit against the city of Charleston (and three of its police officers) for allegedly conducting an “illegal, unconstitutional, wrongful and targeted arrest” of McLeod.
According to the lawsuit (.pdf), three CPD officers “willfully violated their own policies and procedures by failing to
identify themselves or immediately state the reason for which they were violating Mr. McLeod’s
constitutional right to walk along the Battery less than three blocks from his own home.”
While allegedly investigating the presence of “a fire truck passing by his house” and the presence of “police cars and the fire truck” located a few blocks away from his residence, McLeod insisted he was “forcibly” stopped by officers “with a hand to the chest.” Subsequently he claimed he was “grabbed,” “handcuffed” and “placed under arrest.” According to his pleading, “none of the officers told (him) why they arrested him prior to placing him in handcuffs.”
McLeod acknowledged in his pleading that he failed to give officers his name upon being stopped on the street, purportedly telling them “my name doesn’t matter” and informing them he was walking on “America’s street.”
***
Prior to being placed in the police cruiser, however, McLeod’s lawsuit stated bodyworn camera clearly captured him giving officers “his full name (twice)” as well as his date of birth.
“The footage also shows the officers acknowledging the same, typing the information into their patrol car computer, even calling McLeod by his name,” the complaint alleged.
McLeod’s lawsuit accused police of deliberately failing to book him under his name “to bury (him) in the jail so that his family or law firm could not find him.” Police also allegedly kept him incarcerated for “approximately 38 hours under a fictitious name and demonstrably false date of birth.”
Not only that, McLeod’s complaint claimed police “broke (his) neck by trucking his head into the corner of the cinderblock wall in his cell presumably because he would not ‘shut up.'”
Furthermore, following his alleged unlawful incarceration McLeod claimed his rights have continued to be violated.
“The City of Charleston continues to prosecute McLeod for public disorderly conduct despite the unlawful and tortious acts committed by its officers,” the lawsuit claimed. “Moreover, despite repeated attempts to invoke his constitutionally guaranteed right to a speedy trial McLeod has not been afforded (this right).”
McLeod’s lawsuit accused Charleston police of conducting a “false and felonious arrest,” an “unreasonable seizure,” violating his due process rights, “selective enforcement and prosecution” and violating his First Amendment right to free speech and expression. It accused the city of Charleston of “negligence, gross negligence and recklessness” as well as “negligent training, supervision, hiring and retention” related to the three officers named in the lawsuit.
McLeod’s lawsuit further accused all of the named defendants of invading his privacy and defaming him.
These alleged actions caused McLeod “mental suffering, hurt feelings, emotional distress as well as damages to his reputation and standing in the community.” For these alleged damages, he is seeking a judgment in the amount of $50 million along with “punitive damages,” court costs and any other relief “as the court may deem just and proper.”
***
THE COMPLAINT…
***
ABOUT THE AUTHOR…
Will Folks is the founding editor of the news outlet you are currently reading. Prior to founding FITSNews, he served as press secretary to the governor of South Carolina. He lives in the Midlands region of the state with his wife and eight children.
***
SOUND OFF…
Got something you’d like to say in response to one of our articles? Or an issue you’d like to address proactively? We have an open microphone policy! Submit your letter to the editor (or guest column) via email HERE. Got a tip for a story? CLICK HERE. Got a technical question or a glitch to report? CLICK HERE.
