YouTuber and “activist” Regan Benson verbally exploded at police and the Englewood City Council Monday night after another activist was escorted out of the meeting by police for recording outside of the designated press area.
Benson, accompanied by Aurora Transparency, another activist identified as Josh Spole and a homeless woman and her teenage daughter, arrived late for the meeting which itself was plagued by technical difficulties with its YouTube feed and had started late.
Before entering the meeting, Benson explained that while she had received an exclusion banning her from the Englewood city council chambers for 45 days, she was currently appealing the ruling and would be able to speak tonight.
She also claimed that she “won” the exclusion case from the Englewood public library, where she had previously been banned from the library for 90 days. With an independent review finding in her favor last week.
Both Aurora Transparency and Josh joined Benson in signing up to speak in the public speaking portion of the event. Benson also exchanged words with Officer B. Roberts, who was manning the security desk. She claimed that he promised he’d never participate in abusing someone’s free speech at the meetings by arresting them without charges.
As the meeting progressed to the public speaking portion, Benson’s crew became more and more agitated. Josh mockingly held up a sign reading “applause” as applause was not allowed in the meeting due to current guidelines.
Aurora Transparency was the first of the group to speak. She recounted the story of how Benson saved Robert, the homeless man who lost part of his leg who has been in Benson’s care since early in the year and praised Benson.
She claimed that Englewood’s policy towards homelessness was to leave the homeless to die. She also alerted the council to the inadequacies of their homeless resources’ flyer on display in parts of the building, calling it useless and outdated.
After she finished, Mayor Othoniel Sierra asked a “Mister Pinkerly” to stop recording from his seat or to take a seat in the press area that had been designated for recording. Pinkerly refused and stood up defiantly. He said it was his right to record in the building and no one could stop him.
Mayor Sierra put the city council into recess and the majority of the city council members left the chamber. City Council members Rita Russell and Kim Wright, both seen as allies of Benson, remained in their seats as they did during Benson’s disruption of the meeting two weeks ago.
A police officer approached Pinkerly and calmly spoke to him for a few minutes before other police officers, including officer B. Roberts entered the chamber. Benson and her group started screaming “fucking police” and other profanities at the police officers, with Benson targeting Roberts as he “promised” he would not get involved before the meeting.
Benson followed as the group of police officers escorted Pinkerly out of the chambers. Once outside of the building, Benson began loudly screaming “fuck the police” while Aurora Transparency oinked at the police officers.
Pinkerly, who at one point said he had a second amendment right to defend himself against police, was put in handcuffs and put into officer Dirk Smith’s police vehicle. Benson targeted Smith, screaming that he was a “killer” and lunging towards the door of his car before backing away.
On her way back into the city council chamber, Benson slammed her purse so hard against a security tray that her phone’s camera went out of focus. Aurora Transparency did a “fuck you” dance at the back of city council chamber, flipping off police officers.
Once the rest of the collective returned to the chamber and the city council resumed business, Josh was called to speak but declined to do so as he said he feared being arrested for his opinions. Benson was clearly agitated with Josh’s failure to give his prepared remarks.
Benson was the final speaker of the night, refusing to give her cross street or town of origin. She eventually said “Utopia” was her town and went back and forth with Mayor Sierra for 20 seconds of her three minutes of allotted time before moving forward.
The homeless activist spent the next minute singling out council members and representatives of Englewood’s city government for insults, then finished her remarks by bizarrely clapping for herself for the last minute of her time.
After her remarks, Benson’s group remained in the chamber for a few minutes as the council went on with the meeting, before exiting. Benson promised that federal civil rights lawsuits had been filed against Englewood Police and soon heads would start to roll.
She signed out stating that a new warrant for her arrest would be made after her actions earlier in the evening and she would fight and win against any actions taken against her.
