A Chicago court has dropped its charges against three street preachers who were arrested after peacefully sharing the Gospel on a sidewalk near a park. 

The American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ) filed a federal civil rights lawsuit earlier this year against the city of Chicago on behalf of Brett Raio, Reetik Dhamala, and Perez Ndi.

The trio was arrested near Millennium Park for one reason, the legal group claims: "peacefully preaching the Gospel in a public space."

"They weren't causing disruption. They weren't blocking traffic. They weren't threatening anyone. They were simply proclaiming truth – using a small speaker system, reading Scripture, calling people to Christ. And for that, they were handcuffed and taken into custody," Liam R. Harrell, Associate Counsel with the ACLJ, wrote. 

According to the lawsuit, last December, the preachers connected a battery-operated microphone to share the Gospel with people passing by. One individual approached and heckled the preachers, who then moved the speaker away from the heckler in an attempt to help appease him. 

"The individual continued heckling, so Raio explained that 'This is the best we can do because we still want everyone to hear the Gospel, you know.' Upon information and belief, this individual called the police about their conduct," the lawsuit outlines. 

Officers arrived at the scene, demanding that they lower the volume of the microphone and asked for their permit. In response, Raio said, "Officer, there's no permit for the First Amendment." 

One of the officers attempted to grab the speaker, but Raio objected. He made it clear to the officers that the group did not have a permit, but they were exercising their First Amendment right to speech. He was then arrested. 

Raio later showed video evidence of the interaction during a hearing at the Chicago Department of Administrative Hearings on February 21, 2025. 

The charges were subsequently dropped. 

However, the next day, when the preachers returned to the same intersection to share the Gospel, they were again arrested by police officers and taken to jail. 

Attorneys with the legal group filed a lawsuit against the city of Chicago and officials, claiming the preachers' First Amendment rights were violated because they faced "unwarranted criminal charges for exercising their constitutionally protected right to share their faith in public."

"This alarming development demonstrates a pattern of enforcement that disregards well-established constitutional protections. The fact that more street preachers are being arrested for peacefully expressing their beliefs indicates that the issue is far from resolved. If the city is intent on continuing to silence street preachers through unlawful arrests, this could have broad implications for free speech – not just for religious speakers, but for anyone engaging in public expression," Harrell explained. 
 

After more than six months of court battles in Chicago, the judge dismissed the case.

"After multiple continuances, forcing these men to come to court multiple times, we finally showed up ready for trial. And at the last possible moment, Chicago was not ready," Harrell explained in a video post to the ACLJ's Facebook page. 

"Chicago made these young men go through almost six months of court hearings, of trial procedures, pretrial preparations, all for at the last minute for the city of Chicago to be unprepared," he added. 

Harrell says that while this is a victory for these young men, the battle is not over. 

"They can go back out onto the streets and continue to evangelize and preach, but unfortunately, because our federal case is still pending, their ability to preach, their ability to evangelize is being chilled and threatened by potential further enforcement," he explained. 

"They can go home free men, but we still need to fight to make sure this doesn't happen again," Harrell expressed. 

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