East Lansing's 'celebrations' ordinance ruled unconstitutional

EAST LANSING - An ordinance aimed at addressing fires following key wins or losses by Michigan State University’s football and men’s basketball teams or other rowdy events like Cedar Fest is unconstitutional, a judge ruled last week.

The ruling in 54B District Court came after two women were charged with violating the ordinance in October after police determined they remained within 300 feet of a mattress fire. Their attorney, Nick Bostic, challenged the constitutionality of the ordinance, which makes it illegal to be that close to a fire without attempting to put it out or contact emergency services.

"The city of East Lansing is embarrassed by all the fires," he told the State Journal in an interview last week. "And this (ordinance) was an overreaction because they keep getting embarrassed on the national news."

East Lansing has struggled to rein in large gatherings, which have often included fires, ranging from a single couch to large fires in streets and neighborhoods.

The ordinance was passed by the City Council in 1999. While he did not have specific numbers of citations issued in recent years, East Lansing police Lt. Scott Wriggelsworth said police have used it "quite a bit" in the past few years and it has proven to be an effective tool to address the issues of fires.

East Lansing City Manager George Lahanas said today that the ordinance is "very important" to the city to protect people and property and to allow fire department personnel the space needed.

"Our city attorney has reviewed the decision," he said. "We will be consulting with the City Council to determine our next steps."

Not only did Judge Andrea Larkin dismiss the cases against the two women, saying the ordinance was unconstitutional as it was applied to them, she said it was unconstitutional on its own.

Lahanas added that it's too early to say if the next steps will include appealing Larkin's ruling or making changes to the ordinance.

"This court does find the East Lansing ordinance to be impermissibly vague and overbroad and thus in violation of the Constitution," she wrote. "This is an ordinance that infringes on a citizen's constitutionally protected right to move through and upon public and private spaces and reaches wholly innocent conduct. Vagueness permeates the text of this ordinance."

Larkin agreed that the city has a "legitimate interest in preventing outside fires and civil disturbances," but that ordinances already makes it illegal to start a fire, fuel a fire, encourage others to start or fuel a fire, assemble near a fire or block emergency personnel.

The women arrested in October were the only people near the fire and one of them took a picture, according to court records, before being arrested by East Lansing police.

Bostic added that one of his clients was actually going toward a police office in a nearby alley before she and her friend were arrested. The city said both women were standing near the burning mattress and didn't attempt to flag down the police officer in the alley, according to court records.

Fire crews weren't on scene when the women arrived, and the officer in the alley didn't order them to leave the area, according to court records. Police don't suspect the women started the mattress fire, fueled the fire, encouraged others to start or fuel the fire, or were causing harm or danger to others or property, according to court records.

Bostic said the ordinance's language means someone several houses down from the scene of a fire, who is on the porch visiting a friend and had nothing to do with the fire, would have to leave the area of be subject to arrest.

In her written ruling, Larkin said the ordinance doesn't specify how long someone must remain in the area before it's illegal, adding that it could be second or minutes. She wrote that it doesn't require police to tell someone to leave the area before arresting them, or that the person was or intended to interfere with emergency personnel.

"The court can envision a myriad of ways that innocent conduct could be criminalized," Larkin wrote of the ordinance.

Contact Matt Mencarini at (517) 267-1347 or mmencarini@lsj.com. Follow him on Twitter @MattMencarini.