Retired restaurant owner, 78, is arrested after feeding homeless people without a permit

A retired restaurant owner is suing an Arizona city after she was arrested for feeding homeless people without a permit in a public park.

Norma Thornton, 78, was feeding homeless residents at the Bullhead City Community Park on March 8 when she was arrested for violating an ordinance requiring permits to dole out home-cooked food at a city park.

She is now suing Bullhead City officials for enacting the ordinance and is asking a federal judge to overturn it — arguing that the permit requirements are ‘extremely burdensome’ and violate residents’ Fourteenth Amendment rights.

Under the terms of the 2021 ordinance, residents are required to pay $1million in liability insurance, as well as a fee and a deposit to get a permit — which they must request five to 60 days in advance.

The permit is then only in effect for two hours, and people can only obtain one permit every 30 days.

Norma Thornton, 78, was feeding homeless residents at the Bullhead City Community Park on March 8 when she was arrested

Thornton was not arrested at the time, with the officer telling her in the body camera footage they would only take her in for fingerprinting

‘On top of that, no two permittees may use the same location within 30 days of each other — meaning that, at maximum, the city might allow the charitable sharing of food in one park for two hours, once a month,’ attorneys with the Institute of Justice argue.

In effect, attorney Diana Simpson said in a statement, ‘the city has criminalized kindness.

‘People have a fundamental right to feed those in need, and have been doing so for the entirety of human history,’ she added. 

But city officials have said in statements to Law and Crime that individuals are still permitted to feed anyone they would like on private property, or could provide non home-cooked food in the city parks.

Thornton has been feeding meals to the homeless, and those who otherwise cannot afford a meal, for four years.

She had moved to the city from Alaska in search of warmer weather, and soon noticed the high number of homeless people in the city, the lawsuit states.

It cites US Census Bureau data that shows that 17 percent of Bullhead City’s more than 40,000 residents live below the poverty line.

Thornton knew what that was like, the lawsuit says, as she and her five children lived for six months in an old school bus while she looked for work after her first husband died.

‘The thought of people being hungry — I mean I’m not making a big impact,’ she said between tears in a video by the Institute of Justice, ‘but at least some people have enough food to survive.’

She added that no one was camping or living in the park, with the lawsuit stating that many of the city’s homeless residents take shelter in the desert away from prying eyes, and she always cleans up after herself.

But after she finished serving around 27 people at the Bullhead City Community Park on March 8, she was approached by a city police officer.

Body camera footage shows the responding officer talking to his supervisor on the phone about the situation, even admitting, ‘I think this is a PR nightmare, but OK’ before telling Thornton she was under arrest.

The officer did not handcuff the elderly woman, deeming her not to be a threat, as he led her into a police vehicle.

Thornton faced four months behind bars, a fine of up to $1,431 and a probation period of two year before a city prosecutor dismissed the case 

She had been feeding homeless residents in the park home-cooked meals for four years, and is now trying to serve them in an alleyway that does not have seating or shade

Thornton was not arrested at the time, with the officer telling her in the body camera footage they would only take her in for fingerprinting. 

He claimed she was ‘lucky’ this time, but ‘if this happens again, I am being told point blank that you will be looking at jail for the night, at least.’

Still, Thornton insisted: ‘ ‘I’m not out to hurt anybody.’ 

But she faced four months behind bars, a fine of up to $1,431 and a probation period of two years.

Authorities argued she was operating illegally, without a permit, because her food was being doled out for charitable reasons and was neither pre-packaged nor store-bought. 

Eventually, however, a city prosecutor offered her a plea deal for community service with two years probation, but Thornton refused, and received pro-bono legal representation.

Soon enough, the city prosecutor dropped the case, saying Thornton was just unfamiliar with the law.

Thornton has since decided to continue to give out her home-cooked meals, which include a protein (usually meat) and fresh fruits and vegetables, at an alley nearby.

‘I’m never going to stop feeding them,’ Thornton said in the video posted by the law firm. ‘Never.’ 

But compared to the park, she said, the alley lacks seating and only partial shade from the brutal Arizona shade.

City officials have said that individuals are still permitted to feed anyone they would like on private property, or could provide non home-cooked food in the city parks

In a statement, Mayor Tom Brady said: ‘Individuals are free to serve food to any homeless person at their place of residence, church or private property,’ while Police Chief Robert Trebes also issued a statement saying Thornton’s efforts interfere with the police department’s efforts to get the homeless residents into shelters

City officials, meanwhile, say the video is misleading.

They said they adopted the Food Sharing Ordinance ‘after years of complaints from families who desired to utilize city parks.

‘The ordinance does not stop individuals or groups from distributing food or drink to a homeless person, or any other person in a city park if the food or drink is ‘sealed prepackaged foods’ readily available from retail outlets and intended for consumption directly from the package,’ they said in a statement.

‘Individuals are free to serve food to any homeless person at their place of residence, church or private property,’ Mayor Tom Brady added. ‘Our ordinance applies to public parks only.’

And Police Chief Robert Trebes said: ‘After the ordinance was enacted, there was approximately nine months where we educated or warned about the ordinance and no enforcement action was taken.

‘The Bullhead City Police Department cares for the health and welfare of our citizens, and we have been working hard to help the homeless get the services they need to get them out of their situation,’ he added.

‘Officers have many contacts with the homeless, and during these contacts we educate them on local services and will even transport them to the local homeless shelter if they want, rather than by enabling them by just leaving them where they are and bringing them things that doesn’t help them out long-term.

‘When incidents like this occur, where citizens, even well-meaning, violate the law, it becomes counter productive to what we are trying to accomplish with this vulnerable population,’ Trebes explained.

‘We want them to get help to get out of their situation, not keep them in it.’

But, the lawsuit asserts, ‘the city’s real goal is to remove all homeless people from using public parks, which it seeks to accomplish by prohibiting charitable food sharing by well-meaning residents like Norma.’

It notes that the food pantries and shelters in the city have limited hours and ‘many needy people in the area either do not own a car or cannot afford to pay the gas to drive to food pantries or shelters.’ 

The lawsuit then goes on to argue that the ordinance violates her 14th Amendment rights ‘to engage in charitable acts and to share food with the needy.’

And, the lawyers argue, ‘the disparate treatment between people sharing food for charitable purposes and people sharing food for non-charitable purposes also violates her right to equal protection.’ 

‘People have a fundamental right to engage in charity, which is protected by the Constitution,’ Simpson said.

‘There is absolutely no valid reason for Bullhead City to crack down on Norma’s act of compassion.’