Syracuse man sues DeWitt over arrest for preaching from sidewalk

Monday, September 13, 2010
John O'Brien / The Post-Standard

A Syracuse man claims in a federal lawsuit that DeWitt police violated his rights to free speech and religion when they arrested him last year for preaching from the sidewalk.

Nicholas Auricchio, 42, sued the town and the police department this week in U.S. District Court over his arrest Sept. 6, 2009, on charges of violating the town noise ordinance.

Auricchio, described in the lawsuit as a “professing Catholic Christian and a traveling evangelist,” was standing on a sidewalk across East Genesee Street from Holy Cross Church at 4:45 p.m. when he started sharing his religious beliefs “in a raised voice,” the lawsuit said. The area is often noisy with passing traffic, the lawsuit said. He did not use any kind of amplifier, the suit said. the rest

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