Throughout his college and NFL career, Warren Sapp established himself as one of history’s most destructive defensive tackles, earning Hall of Fame honors after recording 96.5 sacks during a 13-year professional career with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Oakland Raiders.
Today, the 53-year-old retired football player has turned into a First Amendment activist, filing a lawsuit against the city of Tampa last week because officials kicked him out of city hall after accusing him of disrupting a city council meeting Sept. 17
But Sapp never even entered the council chambers during its meeting.
Instead, he had entered an adjoining room outside the chambers inside city hall to make a public records request.
“Mr. Sapp was requesting records regarding a previous city council decision,” said Anthony Sabatini, one of two attorneys representing Sapp, in an email to Atlanta Black Star.
“Tampa’s actions are unconstitutional on their face. The Tampa City Council is known to show total disregard toward the constitutional rights of their citizens — we hope this lawsuit changes that,” the statement continued.
“Get out!” said Tampa City Council Chair Alan Clendenin who had paused the meeting after hearing voices from the adjoining room.
Sapp laughed, then flipped him off with his middle finger, a gesture protected by the First Amendment.
“I’m warning you to leave and if you don’t leave, I’m going to ask the police to escort you out,” Clendenin said.
“I’m refusing your request,” Sapp replied.
“The chairman of city council has ordered you to leave,” said a man in a suit with a badge around his neck, presumably a Tampa police officer who identified himself as “Officer Barbosa.”
“You have to leave now.”
Sapp’s video begins with him seated as Barbosa pressures him to leave City Hall, a building open to the public.
“Are you done with your business here?” Barbosa asks.
“No,” Sapp responds.
“What else do you need here?” Barbosa asks.
“I don’t need to explain my business in a public office to you,” Sapp responds. “And I’ve lowered my voice.”
That was when Clendenin stuck his head out the chambers ordering Sapp out of the building, prompting Sapp to flip him off while laughing.
“What crime have I committed? I’m in a public place,” Sapp says. “I have to commit a crime in order to be trespassed.”
But Barbosa kept raising his voice.
“Shhh,” Sapp tells him. “Keep your voice down.”
‘“No, no, you’re not going to tell me shhh,” Barbosa responds.
“That is the chairman of city council.”
“Under what authority?” Sapp asks.
“Under his authority,” Barbosa says.
“I need to break a law in order to be trespassed from a public place,” Sapp responds.
“You’re interfering with city council meeting right now,” Barbosa says.
“No, I’m not, you’re talking,” Sapp says laughing.
A uniformed cop standing nearby tells Sapp to take his feet of the table in front of him and Sapp complies.
“Respect the place if you’re going to sit in it,” the uniformed cop says.
Sapp responds by flipping him off, but the video then ends.
Sapp left the building without police arresting him, local media reported. And the Hillsborough County State Attorney’s Office said they do not have a case involving Sapp.
“Defendant’s characterization of Plaintiff’s conduct as a ‘disturbance’ was used to justify an adverse governmental response to conduct protected by the First Amendment,” the claim states.
