Roswell Blogger Tisdale Heads Back to Court

DAWSONVILLE, Ga. – To say that Roswell blogger Nydia Tisdale is becoming a frequent visitor to north Georgia courtrooms would be an understatement. The Roswell blogger has filed three civil lawsuits in federal court, she is the defendant in one criminal case and plans to file a criminal complaint against a Dawson County deputy in the near future.

Tisdale began her foray into the halls of justice in 2012 when Cumming Mayor Ford Gravitt ordered her to stop filming a City Council meeting. When she refused, she was escorted out of City Hall by the Cumming Police Chief. She immediately filed a lawsuit and, in 2014, received a $200,000 settlement from the city.

In August, she and her attorney took to the steps of federal court in Gainesville in for an impromptu press conference during which she announced that she has filed a lawsuit against Dawson County Sheriff’s Captain Tony Wooten, Cpl. Laura Bishop and Cpl. Russell Smith claiming they violated her constitutional rights when she was forced to stop filming a political event at Burt’s Pumpkin Farm in Dawson County.

Tisdale claims the officers violated her First Amendment rights by shutting down her filming of the event, her Second Amendment rights when they arrested her without probable cause and her Seventh Amendment rights by seizing her camera without just cause.

She has a criminal court case scheduled in October in which she is charged with felony obstruction of an officer, misdemeanor obstruction of an officer and misdemeanor criminal trespass. Athough she hasn’t done so yet, Tisdale says she plans to file a complaint against Wooten, charging him with criminal sexual assault.

Her latest court action involves another civil lawsuit she filed this week in which she is suing Burt’s Pumpkin Farm and its owners  Johnny and Kathy Burt for an unspecified amount of money stemming from the incident that led to her arrest.