A young man recently arrested while protesting a drag show is vowing to challenge his detainment and the resulting financial penalties.
Marcus Schroeder, 19, told CBN’s Faithwire he was taken into custody by police July 29 in Watertown, Wisconsin, while sharing the Gospel at a “Pride in the Park” event.
“We were there to preach the Gospel, have a public witness against the drag queen story hour that was going on,” he said. “So, I turned on my speaker. I was on the public sidewalk [and] started reading from Galatians 5, which is just a passage about what true love is.”
Schroeder said police officers started coming over to him, and “without saying anything” and with “no warning,” he said one of the cops tried to stop him.
Watch Schroeder detail the events surrounding his arrest:
“An officer just comes up and starts grabbing my arm, twisting my arm to try and grab the microphone away from me,” he said. “And then a few moments later, an officer behind me grabs my other arm, and they handcuff me, and they take me away.”
Schroeder was charged with using amplification without a permit and resisting arrest, but maintains he didn’t fight detention. He was shocked and tensed up when officers reportedly came up behind him to stop his preaching.
He was one of four people purportedly arrested that day, though many others had reportedly gathered to protest. Schroeder said he was held for 20-30 minutes at a nearby building before being taken to the police station, where he was given two citations for the amplification issue and resisting arrest, totaling around $700.
The amplification issue is a sticking point, as cops reportedly asked Schroeder to stop, and he did not. That said, it’s unclear if the law precludes him from using a device on a public sidewalk. A request for comment from Watertown Chief of Police Robert Kaminski has not yet been returned to CBN News.
Schroeder said he was told after his citations he couldn’t be near any Watertown public parks or else he’d be arrested again. The young man said he plans to challenge the citations.
“I do plan on taking it to court,” he said. “I’ve had a few law firms reach out. … They want to take my case.”As for the arrest, Schroeder said the ordeal was “surprising” and unexpected.
Despite the chaos that unfolded — and the national press that followed — he said the situation is actually helping the truth reach others.
“What they were meaning to do for evil, what they were doing to try and silence us from protesting from preaching things like that, God has used it for great good.”
Schroeder also made headlines for another reason: he chose to speak in front of the Watertown City Council after his arrest, delivering the Gospel to those in attendance.
That video also gained a great deal of attention in various media circles:
“I knew that there were going to be some LGBTQ activists there, and I knew that a lot of Christians were gathering,” he said, noting his arrest video was making the rounds at the time. “I thought it would be good for me to be able to testify before the city council, ‘Here’s what actually happened at this event because I know that there’s going to be different sides trying to say different perspectives on what happened.’
”Schroeder said he used the opportunity to also try and discourage other similar drag queen events from unfolding in the future.
As CBN’s Faithwire previously reported, a similar case unfolded in June, when Damon Atkins, a Christian street preacher, was arrested for sharing the Gospel and the Bible at a Pride rally in Reading, Pennsylvania. Charges were dropped after the video went viral.
A statement from the district attorney in Berks County read, “After a review of the incident, which took place on June 3, 2023, in the 800 block of Washington Street in the City of Reading, the district attorney’s office has withdrawn the charges of disorderly conduct filed against Damon Atkins.
”According to The Lancaster Patriot, County Commissioner Christian Leinbach added, after reviewing video of the incident: “From what I have seen thus far I believe this was an unlawful arrest and could open the City of Reading and their police department to legal action.”
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