Arizona man threatened with arrest for preaching at holiday festival files lawsuit

Evangelist Sues Tucson Over Festival Speech Rules

David Hoffman, a street evangelist who says he has been sharing his Christian message at public events for more than a decade, filed a lawsuit in federal court against the city of Tucson and two of its police officers after being prevented from talking about Jesus at the Winterhaven Festival of Lights in December 2025.

Hoffman has attended the free holiday festival—where thousands walk through a residential neighborhood to view light displays—for nearly ten years. He views such gatherings as essential to his ministry because they allow him to reach people who are unlikely to enter a church.

According to Hoffman, when he arrived at the 2025 festival he was told by city police officers that any religious expression was prohibited. He recalled being informed that while attendees could look at the lights, the moment he tried to speak with someone or hand out a gospel tract he would be violating the rule.

The city enacted an event solicitation policy the previous year that bans “religious, political, or issue‑based leafleting.” Signs at the festival entrances posted the prohibition and warned that violators could be removed and face trespassing charges enforced by the Tucson Police Department.

When Hoffman attempted to engage festival‑goers, officers approached him and said he could not be inside “doing the preaching.” He asked whether his volume was the problem; an officer replied that the issue was the act of sending his message, which fell under the prohibited rule. The officer further explained that asking someone if they would like to discuss Jesus constituted “sermonizing,” and that once sermonizing began it became a violation.

Garrett Bell, legal counsel for the First Liberty Institute, which is representing Hoffman, recounted a later exchange: Hoffman asked what he should do if a passerby asked how to be saved, and the officers told him he would have to step outside the event’s perimeter to have that conversation.

After repeated warnings, four uniformed Tucson police officers escorted Hoffman from the festival under threat of arrest. Officers said he could preach in a designated “free expression zone” set up outside the festival perimeter. Hoffman described the zone as looking like a cage, noting that barricades confined him to a corner and made it feel as though Christians were being relegated to a specific area.

First Liberty asserts that the barricaded zone was placed alongside a busy street, rendering practical conversation with passersby difficult. The group points out that commercial food vendors, live performers and 15‑passenger “pedal pub” party bikes playing amplified music were allowed to operate throughout the festival grounds.

In December 2025, First Liberty sent a demand letter to Tucson warning that the policy was unconstitutional; the city did not respond. The institute then filed a complaint this week, alleging that the policy violates Hoffman’s First Amendment rights to free speech and the free exercise of religion, the Fourteenth Amendment’s Due Process Clause, and the Arizona Constitution.

The lawsuit seeks a preliminary and permanent injunction that would permit Hoffman to share the gospel at this year’s Winterhaven Festival of Lights, as well as a declaratory judgment that the city’s solicitation policy is unconstitutional.

Bell argued that the festival occurs on city streets and sidewalks, which receive the highest level of constitutional protection for speech. He noted that while attendees may discuss the weather, the Arizona Cardinals or the University of Arizona Wildcats, they are barred from talking about religion.

Nate Kellum, senior counsel at First Liberty, called the censorship of a Christian message at a public Christmas event “malicious, unconstitutional, and absurd,” adding that a public street festival is a space where citizens should be free to converse about any ideas, and the government may not ban only religious viewpoints.

The complaint names the city of Tucson and Tucson Police Department officers Matt Alexander and William Leonard, in their individual capacities, as defendants.

Tucson officials said they do not comment on pending litigation, and the Tucson Police Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.