ALLEN, Texas — On July 4, conservative YouTuber Cassady Ward had arranged for someone he claimed was a child predator to come over to his house as the man thought he would be meeting up with and sexually assaulting a 14-year-old boy.
When the man came over to Ward's house, Ward confronted him while being dressed in a black tactical vest and a black cowboy hat with a walkie-talkie. Ward had the man sit down in his living room where he talked to him about text messages Ward said he sent him, and then he called the police.
But upon arrival, Ward said police did not arrest the man he invited over, and allowed him to leave freely while officers stayed at the house, asking him why he was dressed up in tactical gear and chastising him for the incident. The video Ward posted to YouTube shows the alleged interaction.
Ward, also known as Cassady Campbell, calls himself a comedian and has made videos like these before, catching adults who he says are trying to meet up with minors.
Ward also makes other videos where he claims to be "trolling" or "pranking" people by pretending to be different characters such as left-wing activists or immigration officers. Along with this most recent video, Ward created a "decoy" account on the dating app Grindr and pretends to be a young boy to lure pedophiles to his home.
In the suit against the city, Ward's attorneys said he had helped police apprehend about a dozen child predators using dating apps looking to sexually abuse minors, including one instance a few days before this one, where police did arrest a suspect.
"But when the police came to Plaintiff’s home in the early hours of July 4, 2022, they treated Plaintiff like a criminal and let a dangerous child predator walk free," the suit reads. "After he invited the police into his house at 2:30 a.m., they were hostile toward Plaintiff, they used excessive force against him, and without a warrant and for no apparent reason they confiscated property worth thousands of dollars."
Despite Ward saying such things in the video like that he was in support of "Blue Lives Matter," the police would go on to chastise him, saying this wasn't the way to go about catching predators. They also insisted on seizing his video cameras and cell phone.
The suit goes on to state that police acted cordially to the man Ward wanted to be arrested and let him drive away free.
"In this action, Plaintiff alleges that the responding police officers violated his First and Fourth Amendment rights, and he seeks compensation for his injuries," the suit states.
The suit, filed against the City of Allen, Allen Police Chief James Skinner and the six police officers who responded to the incident, alleges the police violated Ward's right to free speech and his right to be free from excessive force, as well as unlawful search and seizure due to the police seizing his phone and video cameras without a warrant or probable cause.
Ward's attorneys ask in the suit for an order preventing the city officers from searching his property without a warrant, to delete any files downloaded from Ward's devices without permission, an order to prevent the police from violating his rights further, and for damages for injuries suffered from the event and violation of his rights.
