TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WTXL) — More information about a lawsuit filed by a former member of the Tallahassee Citizens Police Review Board.
Taylor Biro's lawyers have filed a response to the city's motion to dismiss her lawsuit. It challenges her removal from the board.
The Tallahassee City Commission voted to remove Biro from the board on December 7th. Her removal was connected to a sticker saying, "abolish police."
Less than a week later, Biro filed a lawsuit challenging her removal. The City filed a motion to dismiss on January 6th.
Biro's lawyers have now filed their response.
Biro claims the sticker on her mug was protected speech under the first Amendment. The city says that doesn't apply in this case.
In their response to the city's request to dismiss her lawsuit, Biro's attorney claims there's misleading information about her character and the cup she was carrying.
The city's request to dismiss the lawsuit said that Biro endorsed anti-police views while attending meetings after an abolish the police sticker was seen on her cup, making her a distraction.
Biro claims she has never been disruptive in the two years she's served on the board and the political message is relevant to police reform and change.
City Attorney Cassandra Jackson said commissioners were worried that message would create a bias and take away from the purpose of the board; to review internal affairs investigations and make recommendations for policy changes.
"City commission took action that it believed to be in the public interest because what they were seeing is there seemed to be a distraction from the purpose of why the citizens police review board was established," said Jackson.
Jackson said the next step is to have a hearing on the city's motion to dismiss Biro's lawsuit. A date for that hearing has not been set yet.
ABC27 reached out to Biro's team for comment and have not yet heard back.
