Man who yelled ‘Trump’s a loser’ during protest in his tiny Oregon town sues after arrest

An Oregon man who was arrested after he yelled “Trump’s a loser” during solo protests in his tiny hometown is suing city and county officials for infringing on his right to free speech, according to a report.

Neil Daniels, 59, filed a $75,000 civil suit earlier this month over his October 2024 arrest for disorderly conduct. He alleges that Coos County Commissioner Rod Taylor, a Trump supporter who claims the 2020 presidential election was stolen and was at the U.S. Capitol during the January 6 riots, called 911 on him.

No criminal charges were ultimately brought but Daniels said the incident left him “shaken” and with “a lot of anxiety,” Oregon Live reported.

Daniels, a retired police and probation officer, had taken to holding one-man protests on the public sidewalk outside Taylor’s office in Coquille, where nearly 60 percent of voters went for Trump in the 2024 election.

During the protests, Daniels would sometimes wear a mask emblazoned with “TRUMP LOST GET OVER IT,” and chant slogans including, “Rod Taylor’s a traitor.” His demonstrations were “always” peaceful, according to his lawsuit.

However, on October 10, 2024, Daniels was protesting on the sidewalk when Taylor arrived at his office. “He pulled up in his dump truck that he drives to work sometimes with ‘Trump won’ stickers all over it,” Daniels told Oregon Live.

Daniels alleges that Taylor berated him before calling the police and accusing him of “yelling and harassing people.” In an effort to defuse the situation, Daniels claims that he went to the other end of the block.

Coquille police officer Jessica Pierce, who is also named in the suit, then arrived and handcuffed Daniels, according to Oregon Live. The officer allegedly pinned Daniels against her police vehicle and yelled: “Stop resisting!”

The Independent has contacted the City of Coquille Police and Coos County for comment.

“What he was doing was protected speech,” Daniels’ attorney Athul Acharaya, from Portland-based nonprofit Public Accountability, told the newspaper.

Daniels claimed that Taylor was especially bothered by his protest because the commissioner was hosting a visitor at the time, who had been traveling around the U.S. and claiming that he could prove the 2020 election was stolen from Trump.

Taylor disputed the claims in the lawsuit.

“The allegations that my engagement with Mr. Daniels on 10/10/24 included rage or inordinate proximity to Mr. Daniels, or that I issued any request for him to be arrested, is categorically false,” he said in a statement to Oregon Live.

Taylor, whose term as commissioner ends in December, declined to answer questions to the outlet about whether he believed Trump won the 2020 election.

Tensions between the two men reportedly began in 2022 over their differing political views. Daniels said that he started peacefully protesting after learning that Taylor was running for county commissioner.

He was reportedly “appalled” that Taylor – who ended up narrowly winning the commissioner’s seat by less than 1 percentage point – was present on Jan 6.

“You know what, I’m proud to have been there on Jan. 6. … It was a peaceable gathering on the 6th … people were happy, man,” Taylor had previously told a local conservative radio host, according to an NPR report.

Daniels filed the lawsuit October 8 in Coos County Circuit Court.