"You Cannot Stand On The Sidewalk." - Hartford Police Sergeant

On Sunday, January 3rd, 2016, I was peacefully protesting a Connecticut State Police checkpoint, holding up the sign, "Cops ahead. Keep calm and remain silent," encouraging motorists to exercise their constitutional rights. The Checkpoint was in Hartford, on Jennings road, on the 91 southbound on ramp. About an hour in, around 8:30pm, Sergeant Early of the Hartford police Department approached me in vehicle #25 and asked what I was doing. I told him that I was holding up a sign, to which he said that I couldn't stand on a public sidewalk and hold up a sign. I insisted that I am free to stand on a public sidewalk and hold up a sign. He continued by saying that he was giving me a warning, but if he came back around and I was still there, he would put me in a jail cell, saying, "I'll put you in a public jail cell, too, if I come back over here, I promise you." I continued to stand there for over an hour, as protesting on a public sidewalk is a clearly established First Amendment right. I was not blocking pedestrian traffic, nor was I impeding or blocking vehicle traffic. Sergeant Early never returned and I was not arrested. You do not have to comply with unlawful orders.