Lawsuit to be filed in NMSP impersonator case
SANTA FE, N.M. – The case involving a local content creator, a New Mexico State Police uniform, and a misdemeanor charge has taken another turn.
Aldin Hamdy announced Monday he’s pursuing civil charges against the state, on the same day he entered a plea of not guilty to wearing a police uniform in recent TikTok videos.
“Your honor, my client pleads not guilty, and we would request it be set for trial.”
Hamdy says he’s not the guilty one in this case of unlawful wearing of a uniform, and believes the New Mexico State Police officers who arrested him are.
“I just thought it was another video, at the end of the day, I didn’t think anything was gonna come of it. I thought it was something that you know could get a good laugh, and not everyone was laughing at it,” said Hamdy.
Hamdy posted three TikTok videos last month wearing a New Mexico State Police uniform.
Investigators say he took the uniform from a Santa Fe dry cleaner and recorded the videos while he was working there.
Prosecutors filed criminal charges. Now, Hamdy is filing a civil suit.
“The fact of the matter is here is they didn’t like Mr. Hamdy’s joke, they didn’t like his TikTok, and so they are seeking to punish him for his speech. We cannot allow that to happen,” said Israel Chavez, Hamdy’s attorney.
Hamdy’s attorney says the state Department of Public Safety is trying to infringe on Hamdy’s civil rights, including free speech.
“This is a waste of state resources, and it’s a violation of the constitutional rights to free speech that Mr. Hamdy enjoys under the state and federal Constitutions,” said Chavez.
UNM Professor Joshua Kastenberg says both cases could be tough for different reasons. On the criminal side, he says the misdemeanor statute doesn’t make a distinction for comedy.
“The question then is simply this: would a member of the public reasonably consider him to be a police officer? And if the answer is no, then he’s not guilty of this,” said Kastenburg. “If they decide to have an actual criminal trial with a jury, to me, the case is a really tall mountain to climb to convince a jury that ordinary adults would consider him to be a police officer.”
On the civil side, Kastenberg says the defense might have the taller mountain to climb.
“Yes, it’s speech, but I don’t think there’s a built-in First Amendment or civil rights defense into this. I think it’s – to me, it’s a straight-up criminal case defense,” Kastenburg said.
Either way, Hamdy says this isn’t the end for his TikTok characters.
“We’re here to at the end of the day keep being able to keep creating, and we hope that everyone in New Mexico can create without any backlash, and we’re just here to exercise our First Amendment right,” said Hamdy.
As of Monday, the civil suit is not filed yet. KOB 4 reached out to state police for a comment but haven’t heard back.
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