CINCINNATI — A federal judge refused to dismiss a lawsuit filed by a freelance journalist against the City of Cincinnati and a police sergeant for false arrest, stemming from his refusal to stop videotaping the aftermath of a deadly crash that happened after a driver fled a police stop in 2023.

An assistant city solicitor argued that journalist Calvin Andrus had a “mistaken belief that he had a First Amendment right to record the police in public,” which justified his arrest, according to the motion to dismiss.

But U.S. District Court Judge Matthew McFarland disagreed and refused to grant qualified immunity to Cincinnati Police Sgt. Kraig Kunz, which would have shielded him from liability.

In a Sept. 9 order, McFarland allowed all seven of Andrus’ claims to move forward toward trial, in

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