Emmy-Winning Filmmaker Handcuffed, Equipment Seized for Filming Street Preachers Outside Planned Parenthood
Pomona, California — Independent filmmaker Dan Brown Jr. was arrested, handcuffed, and had his cameras confiscated by police on October 17, 2025, while filming a documentary outside a Planned Parenthood facility in Pomona, California.
Brown, an Emmy Award-winning filmmaker who has worked on documentaries including "Walking While Black" and "Girl Forgotten: What Happened to Brianna Wells?" was filming a street preacher named Brother Ed and other evangelists for a documentary titled "Cry Aloud."
The film focuses on confrontational street evangelists and their interactions with law enforcement, and examines questions about the freedom of speech and assembly.
"I've never been out in front of an abortion clinic before," Brown told The Christian Post. "This was my first experience in that forum, and it was one of 25 to 35 locations we've filmed for the documentary. I set out to film the fiery moments, not to be consumed in them."
Around 11 a.m. on October 17, Brown arrived at the Planned Parenthood facility to document the street preachers outside. He filmed the preachers walking and speaking for approximately 30 to 40 minutes before police arrived.
According to Brown, police initially did not speak to him when they first arrived. Later, one officer who had gone inside the clinic came out and told the filmmaker that the cameras made people uncomfortable, asking if Brown was willing to stop filming. The filmmaker did not respond, and the officer left. Brown continued shooting footage for about another hour.
Brown said he didn't encounter police again until he had stopped filming and was loading his equipment into his vehicle. "Next thing I know, two or three police vehicles rush up behind us, kick on their lights and sirens, and come out very forceful," he recalled. "It was like a 'nobody move' situation."
When police asked him for identification, Brown checked his pockets but didn't find it, as it was in the car at the time. Brown said he was handcuffed tightly, placed in a police car without air conditioning for nearly an hour in the heat, and later issued a citation to appear in court on December 6.
A 22-year-old film student from Sri Lanka working as his assistant was also arrested.
After sitting in the police car for about an hour, which Brown said felt like a "sauna," police informed him they had found his ID and were letting him go. As police walked the filmmaker back to his vehicle, they told him they were seizing Brown's cameras, except for one he hadn't used that day.
According to Brown, the police didn't need to take the cameras, and he told them he could hand over the hard drives, but police said they couldn't trust his word. Brown noted that police didn't seize all of the microphones and audio equipment, which made him question the motivation behind taking the cameras. "This is my livelihood. There was no need to take the cameras," he said. "It just seems like gross overreach to me."
When he asked police why they were issuing him a citation, Brown remembered more than one officer refused to answer, telling the filmmaker, "I'm not going to repeat myself."
A Pomona Police Department spokesperson confirmed that officers were dispatched to the Planned Parenthood on October 17 and that Brown was placed under arrest, cited and released into the field. The spokesperson confirmed that police seized his cameras as evidence. Brown's cameras were later returned to him on October 23.
Under California's Assembly Bill 1356, it is a crime to film within 100 feet of an abortion facility for the purpose of intimidating the clinic staff and the women walking inside. Section 423.3 of the penal code states that a first violation is a misdemeanor, punishable by imprisonment in a county jail for a period of not more than one year, or a fine not to exceed $10,000, or both.
Ryan Burke, an attorney for Brown, argued that the filmmaker was not harassing anyone entering the clinic, but covering the protests outside the facility, something the lawyer asserted every "journalist and citizen has the right to do."
THE CRUSADER'S OPINION
California created a 100-foot tyranny zone around abortion clinics where your First Amendment disappears. Film the slaughter house from a public sidewalk? That's a year in jail and a $10,000 fine.
An Emmy-winning documentary filmmaker was treated like a violent criminal for pointing a camera at street preachers. Police rushed him with lights blazing, handcuffed him painfully tight, and locked him in a sweltering car for an hour. They seized his professional equipment—his livelihood—even when he offered to hand over just the hard drives.
Brown wasn't blocking anyone. He wasn't harassing patients. He was filming from a public sidewalk, exactly what journalists do every day outside courthouses and government buildings nationwide.
Assembly Bill 1356 is blatantly unconstitutional. It violates the First Amendment's protection of speech and press. It violates the Fourteenth Amendment's equal protection clause. No other medical facility in California gets a 100-foot censorship bubble. You can film outside hospitals and cancer centers. But film near Planned Parenthood? You're a criminal.
The selective enforcement speaks volumes. Leftist activists film anywhere without consequence. Christians documenting the defense of life? Arrested, equipment seized, court date pending.
California protects abortion by criminalizing anyone who dares witness it. They've shredded the Constitution to shield the billion-dollar death industry. But Brown and his attorney are ready to fight, and every Christian who values life and liberty should stand with them.
TAKE ACTION
Support Religious Freedom and First Amendment Rights:
- Alliance Defending Freedom - Defending constitutional freedoms and religious liberty
https://www.adflegal.org
Email: info@ADFlegal.org
Phone: 1-800-835-5233 - First Liberty Institute - America's largest legal organization defending religious freedom
https://firstliberty.org
Email: info@firstliberty.org
Phone: 1-972-941-4444 - Thomas More Society - Defending pro-life advocates and religious freedom
https://thomasmoresociety.org
Email: info@thomasmoresociety.org
Phone: 1-312-782-1680 - Liberty Counsel - Advancing religious freedom and the sanctity of life
https://lc.org
Email: liberty@lc.org
Phone: 1-800-671-1776
