UVALDE, Texas — The grieving father of a Uvalde school massacre victim was arrested on Monday for 'disrupting a meeting.'
Brett Cross's son Uziyah Garcia was shot and killed, along with 18 other children and two adults, inside Robb Elementary School in May of 2022.
Cross was taken into custody at a Uvalde County Commissioners Court meeting.
During the meeting, Cross directed an emotional speech at Uvalde County Commissioner Mariano Pargas, who served as acting Uvalde Police Chief the day of the massacre.
"How is it that there is a motion to approve minutes when he hasn't been here in the past two months?" Cross asked the commissioners. "We are paying a man's salary who refuses to do anything. You couldn't show up and see the children who survived. It's kind of funny when you do arrive, why are you surrounded by cops?"
When reflecting on Pargas's response to the Robb Elementary School shooting, Cross was furious.
"When you got the phone call that there were eight to nine students still alive in that classroom and you walk the f*** away,” he said.
Uvalde County Judge Bill Mitchell then told Cross to "watch his language."
"Language, language, language," Cross responded. "My child is f****** dead!"
Video of the meeting shows Judge Mitchell motioning to a bailiff, and Cross is escorted out of commissioners court. Witnesses also captured video of Cross being put in the back of a police cruiser.
Over the phone, Judge Mitchell told KENS 5 that Cross "was allowed to address the court about the topic and criticize members of the court." However, he added Cross "continued to use profane language and was escorted out."
Cross was charged with Disrupting a Meeting or Procession, a Class B misdemeanor. The Uvalde County Sheriff's Department said he was released on a $1,500 personal recognizance bond.
A few hours after he was released, Cross spoke with KENS 5.
"I was arrested for disrupting a meeting when I was apart of that meeting," he said. "I was signed up, I didn't speak out of turn, I was speaking in the designated time that I was allotted. So, you're going to arrest me because I said the F word and apparently it hurts your ears? I don't understand. We are all adults here. You can be a cop that saw all the body parts and the blood and children murdered, but saying the F word bothers you? I have a big problem with that."
Bill Piatt is professor of law at St. Mary’s University. He says based on the video, it appears Cross’s constitutional rights were violated.
"He was arrested for words," said Piatt. "He did get loud, but he never threatened the commission. He didn’t direct that word at anybody. In other words, he didn’t say, 'F you.' He was using it as an expression of the deep emotion he feels.”
Piatt says Cross's arrest reminds him of the 1971 Supreme Court decision in the case of Cohen v. California. In that case, a 19-year-old was arrested for wearing a jacket with the phrase 'F*** the draft' into of a California courthouse. The Supreme Court ruled Cohen had the First Amendment right to that expression.
"Even if there were women and children in the commissioners court, that doesn't justify violating the First Amendment right," said Piatt. "The commission could have and should have called a recess, let tempers cool, and called their attorney. I hope their attorney would have told them, 'You can't arrest the man for that word.'"
Cross says he was detained for three hours before getting booked into jail. He accuses the commissioners of wielding power to silence parents.
“Profane is burying your child, profane is picking out which cartoon character is going to be on their casket, profane is waking up every single day knowing your child isn't here," said Cross. "The F word is not.”
The Department of Justice's critical incident review determined Pargas should have been the most appropriate member of law enforcement to command the scene on the day of the tragedy.
The report scrutinized law enforcement's massively delayed response to the shooting. Nearly 400 law enforcement officers from multiple agencies responded to the Robb Elementary shooting, taking 77 minutes to kill the shooter. The DOJ review noted the biggest failure was law enforcement's treatment of the shooting as a barricaded subject instead of an active shooter. Pargas, former Uvalde CISD Police Chief Pete Arredondo and other prominent law enforcement leaders were criticized for their absence of proper leadership that ended in the deaths of 19 children and two teachers.
Here's a recording of the Uvalde Commissioners Court meeting:
Uvalde Police did release this statement:
"The Uvalde Police Department is committed to upholding the law and ensuring public safety in our community. As an assisting agency, our role in this incident was limited to providing support in the transport process. We are cooperating fully with relevamt authorities to gather all pertinent information related to this case."
This is a developing story.
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