Body Cam Video: Tulsa Police Arrest Food Not Bombs Volunteers for Feeding Homeless People

Food Not Bombs argues it has a First Amendment right to feed the needy without a permit. That's led to crackdowns and lawsuits around the country.

Recently released body camera footage of an incident earlier this month shows police officers in Tulsa, Oklahoma, ordering the anti-war group Food Not Bombs (FNB) to stop handing out meals to the homeless and arresting four activists after they insisted they had a First Amendment right to continue.

Local news outlets reported that Tulsa police arrested four members of the local FNB chapter on May 6 on charges including attempting to flee, obstruction, and resisting arrest. Six other volunteers were cited. The crackdown is the latest flare-up in what a 2023 Reason column called "an ongoing tug-of-war that pits public order against the First Amendment right to perform charity as a form of expression." Groups like FNB and Christian charities say feeding the needy is political and religious expression, while city governments say unpermitted food distribution is a public health concern and a nuisance.

The Tulsa chapter of FNB says it has been handing out hot meals on a weekly basis since 2020 without any problems. "We have been able to do this with absolutely no issue whatsoever for nearly six years," a Tulsa FNB member told local news outlet KJRH.

But that stopped on the evening of May 6, when numerous Tulsa police officers showed up to shut down an FNB meal handout.

Recently released body camera footage from the Tulsa Police Department shows a Tulsa officer arriving and asking for the organizer or whoever is running the event. When the activists respond that no one is charge, and they're all just "volunteers handing out food," the officer says that they need a special permit.

"We're protesting right now," one of the activists responded.

"No, you're not," the officer replied.

"We are," the volunteer argued.

"OK, we'll just start citing whoever's out here," the officer said.

The officer then walked over to where volunteers were boxing and handing out hot meals and told them to tear everything down.

"You guys have to have a special permit to be out here," the officer repeated.

When the FNB volunteers ignored the officer and continued boxing food, he demanded their IDs and called for backup.

The body camera footage shows the volunteers starting to pack up their station. One woman, Savannah Davis, attempts to leave with a plastic tub of supplies when the officer grabs her arm and tells her, "Stop or you're going to go to jail."

Davis pulled away and said, "This is our First Amendment right."

"That's it, you're going to jail," the officer said.

"She's literally holding a bin of supplies that she had just cleaned up to comply with their order," Ana Barros, a Tulsa FNB member, told KJR.

Another volunteer was arrested for interfering with Davis' arrest. A third Tulsa FNB member was arrested for grabbing an ID off another detained volunteer's belt loop, and according to Tulsa FNB, a fourth man was arrested for recording the incident.

The body camera shows Davis arguing at length with officers about her First Amendment rights after she is handcuffed.

"You might want to reread the Constitution," another Tulsa officer said to her at one point.

"Oh really? I think you should, considering you're the one with a badge and a gun," Davis responded.

FNB chapters argue they don't need permits because their activities are protected First Amendment speech, and despite the Tulsa police's flippant response, some federal courts agree.

In 2018, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit ruled that distributing food was "expressive conduct" protected under the First Amendment. That decision was a response to a lawsuit by the FNB chapter in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

More recently, a U.S. district court judge issued a preliminary injunction against the city of Houston in 2024, blocking it from enforcing an ordinance that prohibits feeding more than five needy people anywhere—including on public property—without permission.

The judge found that the Houston chapter's food sharing is expressive conduct under the First Amendment and that the group had a substantial likelihood of succeeding on its claims that Houston's ordinance, as applied, created an unconstitutional prior restraint.

In his 2016 book Biting the Hands That Feed Us, food lawyer Baylen Linnekin wrote that crackdowns on good Samaritans began spreading across the country during the first decade of the century. Reason has covered government suppression of food charities in Tampa, Orlando, Fort Lauderdale, Atlanta, Newark, Las Vegas, Charlotte, Philadelphia, and Kansas City. In the latter case, health officials poured bleach on food meant for the homeless in 2018.

The Tulsa Police Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment. However, in a statement to News On 6, the city of Tulsa said: "While at this time the City can't speak directly to the arrests or on-scene communication at the event, prior to last night, the City previously engaged with this group at least 20 times dating back to last April and notified them of the permitting requirements for organized activity in public roadways. The activity has continued to occur, and participants have continued blocking the street with tables and equipment - with a history of leaving trash and debris behind following the event."

In the body camera footage released by the Tulsa Police Department, the first FNB volunteer the officer encountered was cleaning up trash.